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Monday, January 26, 2009

READ THIS: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young

As a quintessential Manhattanite, you should be familiar with this hilarious memoir of Toby's experience of working at Vanity Fair for Graydon Carter in the mid-1990's. The first time I read this book was on my work commute in 2002 and I was laughing so hard I cried on the subway. It is guaranteed to do the same for you.

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is 38 chapters of escapades that you'd hardly believe could happen to someone, and is only more entertaining because they did happen. It contains chapter titles that can only make you wonder and rush to the bookstore/library:

Chapter 1: "Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots."
Chapter 10: The total Betty
Chapter 12: On the list
Chapter 19: "Stay the fuck away from the celebrities!"
Chapter 23: What they don't teach you at the Elephant and Castle Journalism School"

Read to see if Toby gets through all of Graydon's seven rooms! And what does he do on "Bring Your Daughter to Work" day? Shouldn't he have excellent odds as a straight guy at Conde Nast? Can a Brit successfully navigate the velvet rope and clipboard Nazis-or would it be more fun not to!?!

Today you will find Toby here:
http://www.tobyyoung.co.uk/

Incidentally, this book was made into a movie last year:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455538/

Thanks to Sofie O'Shea who recommended this book to me many years ago.

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