How to Deal with Parents and Other Problems
Osborne
1959
“Steady dating”? “The Unmentionable Topic”?? This is just priceless. Wait, my mistake! It’s 60 cents, according to the cover. Talk about dated! The chapter titles are great – read the back cover here (enlarged for easier reading):
The author uses phrases like “going steady” and “getting fresh.” Do kids today know what that means? And how about the chapter called “Why Your Mother Acts That Way” and the father’s answer is “Your mother is going through a change of life” (p.37).
Ah…the salad days of 1959.
Submitted by Holly.
39 responses so far ↓
marykelly48 // June 25, 2009 at 10:03 pm |
Btw, we let a couple of teens take a peek at this book and they couldn’t stop laughing….
Mary
Em4Tango // June 25, 2009 at 10:32 pm |
What the hell is “Dating Across Lines”?
LG // August 6, 2009 at 4:31 pm |
Yeah, that one made me go “huh?” Are they talking racial lines, socioeconomic lines, something else?
Steph // June 26, 2009 at 9:02 am |
Bigotry in the family?!
a roth // June 26, 2009 at 10:27 am |
“Dating Across Lines”:
He’s into piercings, she likes tattoos.
Triple L // June 26, 2009 at 11:47 am |
This is hilarious! Love it! I would also like to know what “Dating Across Lines” is??? Anybody have any idea?
Hollis // June 26, 2009 at 1:21 pm |
I think it means dating someone with different cultural, religious, race, etc. background from yourself. WOW.
ima reeder // July 21, 2009 at 6:51 pm |
yup. “dating across lines: guess who’s coming to dinner?”
hhibner // June 26, 2009 at 1:31 pm |
Yes, I read part of the chapter and it is about dating people with different cultural and religious backgrounds. The author takes a pretty open minded stance, actually!
rachel // June 26, 2009 at 7:45 pm |
I MUST FIND THIS AND OWN IT.
rachel // June 26, 2009 at 7:45 pm |
(or rather: i must find this and BUY it.)
Steph // June 27, 2009 at 10:01 am |
Rachel, that’s a great idea! Maybe some of these titles should be auctioned and fund friends of library efforts, call it, “Books only a librarian could love” or “hipster’s shelf o’ irony”. I’d pay.
Jack // June 27, 2009 at 2:51 pm |
Would the “hipster shelf o’ irony” have an ironic hipster mustache too? Perhaps a book on mustaches that feels ironic upon reading would be more fitting…
rachel // June 27, 2009 at 6:55 pm |
even hipsters, even in this economy, should be able to fork out a few bucks for gems like this… seriously! libraries SHOULD have silent auctions of books only a librarian could love… if they toss enough of those books up for auction, even if they get just loose change for them… that might add up. esp if they did it on regular basis (and w/silent auctions you CAN do it often, bc it’s a low-muss-low-fuss kind of thing.)
Kate // June 30, 2009 at 7:01 pm |
I’m dying to know what the “unmentionable topic” is! Please tell me!
Sex? Masturbation? I doubt homosexuality could have even been on the radar, right?
Claire // June 30, 2009 at 7:18 pm |
I would love- LOVE- to own this.
biff3000 // June 30, 2009 at 7:19 pm |
Um, hello? The Unmentionable Topic? MENTION IT! WHAT IS IT?!?
What did these people consider unmentionable?
Blackneto // June 30, 2009 at 8:15 pm |
I’ll bite. What is the Unmentionable Topic?
Sonia // July 1, 2009 at 10:31 am |
I found it in books.google and in Amazon (of course offer by used book sellers hehe)
http://www.amazon.com/Deal-Parents-Other-Problems-T109TB50C4809/dp/1095048090/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246458597&sr=1-1
WeedingGirl // July 1, 2009 at 11:43 am |
Given the date of this ancient text, I’d guess that the “unmentionable topic” is probably something like “Going All The Way”! (And nothing more exotic than that, strictly missionary position, thank you.) It’s really sad that the entry for this book on Amazon makes it look just like any other new book…hope people are looking at copyright dates before they buy.
hhibner // July 1, 2009 at 1:51 pm |
Yes, the “Unmentionable Topic” is sex. Just…sex. Nothing weird or unmentionable by today’s standards.
dr. dave // July 1, 2009 at 5:44 pm |
that could be the cover of a Douglas Coupland novel!
Doctorate Upholder // July 3, 2009 at 1:21 pm |
so expensive…
opalunderground // July 3, 2009 at 3:25 pm |
I love the titles “Why Your Parents/Teachers Act That Way.” What way? The embarrassing-you-by-dancing-to-your-music way? The talking-about-your-ex-in-front-of-your-new-boyfriend way? I think that’s changed a lot since 1959.
John S. // July 3, 2009 at 9:23 pm |
Yes things have changed quite a bit since 1959. Some potential topics for an update of the book:
Sexting: 10 poses to heat up their iPhones
Will Ritalin cure my acne or make it worse?
How to survive a school shooting
Balancing motherhood and middle school
Know your street drugs
BarbG // July 21, 2009 at 10:26 pm |
LOL
Syl // July 25, 2009 at 10:44 am |
ROTF!
Andrea // July 7, 2009 at 3:08 am |
To me it seems like a pretty progressive book for 50 years ago. They actually talk about Bigotry in the Family and presumably how to deal with it without being sucked into that mindset or killing the racist scum uncle. To me that seems pretty cool. And “Dating across lines” – wow? Are they really talking about interracial dating? Dang! Did the librarian who bought this in 1959 get to keep her job?
Elizabeth // July 10, 2009 at 6:04 pm |
I’m 17 and I know what going steady is and getting fresh is! People should recognize the 50s for their splendor!
I would love this book. but then I’m a strange little bibliophile.
Lindsay // July 11, 2009 at 12:47 pm |
I’m really curious about the “wrong way” to meet boys…
snowflake // July 14, 2009 at 5:32 am |
It seems wonderful, thank you for posting! I also agree with Andrea, it must have been really progressive. I mean: “Bigotry in the family”? Maybe this was the very first book that suggested that parents could be the problem once in a while, too?
Marsha // July 16, 2009 at 10:50 am |
I should have had this book in the 1960s. I must have found every wrong way to meet boys…At a carnival, at beer parties and in bars. No wonder I’m now single.
Courtney // July 21, 2009 at 11:11 pm |
I hope libraries hold on to these types of books. Please don’t let the hipsters hoard them!
mary // July 23, 2009 at 11:41 pm |
ha! love it. when you weed stuff you just sell it, right? dont throw that away. its a classic! lol
Rosie // July 24, 2009 at 12:01 am |
Really…what IS the wrong way to meet boys? (Or the right way, for that matter?)
TexasT // August 1, 2009 at 8:13 am |
Scoff all you want, but this book served me well as a pre-teen when I bought it way back in 1962 or so. It had a different cover (hardcover), and wonderfully whimsical illustrations. It saved my sanity and my temper when handling parents and teachers back then, and all the way through graduate school. In fact, many of the lessons learned back then were still helping me well into the 21st century, but with “other problems” such as Bosses from Hell. Sure, a lot of the advice is now extremely dated, but a lot is far more universal and timeless than one would think. Of all the books I’ve read during my lifetime, this is probably the one that contributed the most practical advice and that had the most important positive impact on my life — both immediately and through all the ensuing decades. I owe Ernest Glenn Osborne big time.
LG // August 6, 2009 at 4:36 pm |
The cover frightens me. They look like mass murderers. Or maybe just mannequins.
Pearl // October 12, 2009 at 3:37 pm |
Hilarious!
I must admit that the subject of the book is perfectly sane and logical, we all have problems with those weird people who we call mom and dad.
It’s just very unexpected to find a book from 1950’s with that cover and that title.
But overall, I would definitely pay $0.60 for that:) I’d buy it for my children as well, and read it myself so maybe I could finally deal with my parents…. And I’m 38 years old:)
Priceless!
Sarah // December 6, 2009 at 9:59 pm |
from the looks of the two on the cover Dealing With Parents involves a shallow grave a short distance into the woods…