Customer Reviews

The Girl's Guide to Absolutely Everything

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am giddy, absolutely giddy, with delight over this book. First off, let me admit that I love "guides" of this sort, so I was already pretty excited before it arrived. But this truly is a must-have guide for young women. It is a seriously helpful, but also cute and quite funny, book bursting with information that every woman should really have. I own a bunch of this type of book (such as "The Go-Girl Guide," "Three Black Skirts," "Modern Girl's Guide" and "How to Walk in High Heels"), and this is by far the most comprehensive and useful of all of them. It provides serious, expert advice on everything from how to deal with menstrual cramps, which nutritional supplements to take, and how to balance your checkbook, 6 steps to furthering your career, how to buy a house, set the table, avoid cell phone borishness, how to know when a relationship is over, to how to make an all-purpose vinagrette, 8 ways of wearing the same black dress, how to prevent stress, how to deal with roommates, etc. You can open this book to any page and find thoughtful, serious advice gleaned from experts, and presented in a friendly, humorous manner. Kirsch does not dumb down any of her information, but she manages to keep up a lively, fun style of writing that makes learning how to get rid of rodents an engrossing and funny experience, if you can imagine.

I also love the book's format and design. It has lots of great, charming little illustrations throughout, and tons of sidebars, quotes, special topics, etc. to break up the text and make it easy to find information. It has a very helpful appendix with a checklist of things to check when looking at houses or apartments to buy or to rent. I really wish I had that, as well as a lot of other information in this book, before now. This is a wondeful book, and a perfect gift for any women in their 20s or 30s who you care about.

Sent this to my college-age daughter and WOW did I hit LOTTO. Yours truly looked "brilliant...way cool dad...awesome book...THANKS". She's gone and purchased books (on my nickel) for all her friends in the dorm. I must confess to reading a few chapters and laughing at loud. While I hate to admit it, I think Girl's Guide has better advice then this ol' dad.

This book somehow manages to be hilariously funny, yet also practical enough to be helpful. I dog-eared many pages -- for example, about how to fix a falling hem with iron-fusible tape (how it possible that I never knew such a product existed?). And it answered many questions I never knew I had, such as: what's the purpose of an underwire bra, anyway? I loved it! Good for a straight read-through or browsing.

Melissa Kirsch's book is filled to the brim with helpful, practical information that a girl needs to know to survive in this modern world. It's probably most useful for someone in their 20's, but is a great read for women of all ages.

The book is organised into the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Health and Body Image (information on diet, exercise, stress, physical and mental health)

Chapter 2: Careers and Work (information on resumes, cover letters, job interviews, networking, office etiquette)

Chapter 3: Money and Finance (covers budgeting, credit cards, investing, renting vs buying)

Chapter 4: Etiquette (includes conversation dos and don'ts, table, wedding and phone etiquette and being a good hostess and guest)

Chapter 5: Friends (advice on living with roommates, being a good friend, balancing friendship with dating and de-friending)

Chapter 6: Dating, Sex and Romance (covers first dates, finding a date and a dateable guy, safe sex, break-ups, moving in and long-term relationships)

Chapter 7: Family (advice on how to get along with your parents and siblings)

Chapter 8: Spirituality (covers spirituality and ethics)

Chapter 9: Home Ec (advice on finding a place to live, keeping house, laundry, cooking and how to deal with difficult roommates)

Chapter 10: Fashion (advice on finding what looks best on you, accessorises, beauty treatments, getting a decent haircut and finding the right bra)

The book is very well-written and researched. The author provides references for a number of excellent books in each chapter if the reader would like further information on a particular topic.

All in all, a fantastic book that every girl should own. It makes a great gift too. Highly recommended!!!

I bought a copy of this as a gift for my cousin who just graduated from college, and she's found it tremendously useful. (I couldn't possibly figure out what her tastes are in terms of clothes or music, so this seemed like a good bet.) The Girl's Guide was right on the money: funny and practical and not at all treating young women like airheads--as the media sometimes does. I think my cousin even emailed the author a question or two and she responded! (About family, natch :))So if you know a young woman who is just starting out, definitely get her a copy of this book. The money advice in particular is great. I wish someone had given me this book in my twenties and then I might have a little more saved up :)

This book is funny, relevant, and extremely informative. Melissa Kirsch tells it to you straight. This isn't a girl's guide, it's a human's guide to naviagating the 21st century. Whether it is economics or fashion or gift-giving - Kirsch's good humor and razor insights will help you get through your day, your life...This book saved me, gave me not only a healthy perspective, but answered the most down to earth questions. There's nothing, and I mean nothing, Kirsch doesn't know.

My 23 year old daughter absolutely loved this book. She thinks most girls graduating from college need a copy.

I was impressed by the great reviews for this book and I decided to buy it. At 29 I am probably a bit older than the target audience for this book. I would agree that the writing style of the author is entertaining and makes the book pleasant and easy to read, even when dealing with some rather dull topics. I didn't find the book funny, as some of the other reviews indicate, and it's not a book that I sat and read obsessively until I finished it.

The book does encompass a huge range of topics, pretty much everything that a young person may come across in life (money, career, dating, friends, manners, finding an apartment etc etc). As a non-American I did find some of the sections useful, such as tipping etiquette, but in general I found most to the information in this book to be common sense. Most of the topics are also dealt with very briefly, as to be expected in such as book. I'm not sure that I would refer to this book in the future to get advice. I don't feel that I would be missing much if I never read this book.

Lastly, a lot of information in this book is subjective. I found that were some inaccuracies in the first section of the book on health, even some of the quotes from the `experts' were opinions rather than facts.

As a young woman working on the transition from "college kid" to adult, I have read a lot of guides with the same purpose as this one. This is the ONLY one that I have found useful, and found myself able to read it from cover to cover. I highly recommend it as a gift for any woman from 18-25.

I love this book- I've never written a review for anything on this site, but I really feel that I need to share with others how great and useful "The Girl's Guide to Absolutely Everything" is. I've read several other books of this nature, and this one is by far the best. The tone of the book is just right- humerous but not as biting as other books of its kind. It has a useful section on style, and it doesn't overdo it on these subjects as I feel that "Three Black Skirts" does. I love fashion and beauty tips as much as the next girl, but I honestly don't think that anything you read in a book can really help you out that much in this area. That being said, I do think that Kirch has some good pearls of wisdom on the topic that are worthwhile.

I just graduated from college and I am now searching for my first real job and apartment in a new city. The book had some good job search advice, although if you are really looking to learn a lot about this topic I would suggest getting a book based solely on this subject. I feel that the most useful information provided were the chapters on ettiquette, household, and finance. There were honestly so many useful tips in these chapters. I consider myself to be pretty domestically savvy (I was lucky enough to have a mom who's been compared to Martha Stewart) but I still found so much excellant advice in these chapters. I've already got several of the pages dog-eared for easy reference later on.

This book would make a fantastic gift for any girl who has just graduated college and is ready to set out on her own in the real world. If you're planning on buying any book of this kind, this is absolutely the one to spend your money on!