Customer Reviews

A Field Guide to the Urban Hipster

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is an interesting read, or at least partially interesting anyway. But it is seriously flawed. For one thing, it includes profiles of non-hipsters or scenesters (which are close, but not the same) and lumps them in with hipsters.

For example: A Raver is NOT a hipster. They are Scenesters. A Goth is a Non-Hipster. Hipsters wouldnt be caught dead with Goths, and vice versa. A true Hipster remains deep and philosophical, yet shallow and savvy enough to know where they belong. " Euro Trash" are Non-Hipsters are well, as are "Ex-Frats". There is nothing more Un-Hipster than belonging to a fraternity, even if it was in the past tense. And furthemore, it uses cliches which arent quite that funny. If you want a far MORE ACCURATE discription of the true Hipsters and their psyche, buy "Hipster Handbook".

The similar natures of the reviews written here lead me to believe that Josh Aiello is pulling a Bebe Buell and reviewing his own book over and over again, giving it five stars again and again from different "readers" in various states.

Nice try, but this book definitely misses the mark. I sort of feel badly that it had to follow the publication of the Hipster Handbook, which is WAY more accurate and WAY funnier than The Field Guide to the Urban Hipster.

I've read both, and while The Hipster Handbook absolutely positively nails it, the Field Guide to the Urban Hipster feels like it was written by my sixty year old father trying to be funny about kids today and picking up only about 20% of the general gist of the thing

The first surprise when first picking up this book was its size. 224 full pages! No 2 inch margins, 18 point text, or blank "section" pages so often used to fill out the "good-premise, no follow-through" bathroom books that usually sell for twice as much. This book will take you some time to go through, start to finish. That's a very good thing, considering how insightful and clever each page is.

The second surprise was in the illustrations. There are tons of them! And I suppose I should have expected sharp details considering the book's satire source (bird-watching and other nature guides), but the depth of humor in the drawings keeps some of the best jokes hidden until your third or fourth viewings. You'll find yourself scanning each page intently looking for each next piece of wit.

This book inspires thoughts of hugely expanded games of hipster bingo, brings up ideas for snappy Halloween costumes, improves your insulting techniques, and, of course, identifies, clarifies, and classifies any big city hipsters you'll come across.

Clearly a compilations of clinches and stereotypes from someone who has never interacted with those he has decided to describe or poke fun at. Potentially could have been hilarious but the author didn't have the chops to make it so.

This book is hilarious, because it's so true! Aiello's descriptions are right-on and witty. Shultz's illustrations complete the book, capturing the various personality types perfectly. These two have obviously done their research, making the book a fun tour of the personalities of Any City, USA.

I completely enjoyed reading this book- It was highly entertaining. The author has a great sense of humor that shows through his writing. The illustrations are fantastic as well and help set this book apart from any others in its genre.
A great read and an even better gift! I highly recommend this book.

A stunningly lucid account of an under-documented, but quickly emerging field of social anthropology. Aiello and Shultz's book, while worth all the laughs, is a book to be taken seriously for its scholarship and journalistic spirit.
I am interested in whether or not this will effect the hipster estabishment in a kind of 'we are on to you- so up the ante- kind of way'. Mad props.

The Field Guide to the Urban Hipster rocks with scathing diatribe and subtle wit and is not only more in depth than that Hipster Guide book, but much better.

Living in the hipster mecca of the US (Williamsburg, Brooklyn) I spend much of my time co-habitating with nearly all of the varities of hipsters included in this book. With the choking level of "irony" floating around nowadays it's hugely refreshing to read a book that is a genuinely funny, cheerily snarky, insightful look at urban subcultures. Aiello is very well-informed about his subjects and is therefore able to create satire that is bitingly witty and true. You find yourself nodding, laughing, and (if you happen to be, or have ever been, part of these subcultures yourself), blushing. A securely tounge-in-cheek, intelligent, fun read. Highly recommended!

This book is blazingly witty, hilarious,
and informative!
I have to frequently use a field guide
for my job, so i had to laugh outloud when i first noticed
how much Aiello's book is set up in "field guide format",
complete with illustrations & a Latin species subtitle...only
you don't need to take a year in the dead
language to understand Latin!
Aiello & Shultz have uncanny skill - this is a must buy!