The Hipster Handbook

by Robert Lanham, Bret Nicely (Illustrator), Jeff Bechtel (Illustrator)

A hilarious book that will teach you everything you need to know to be too cool for "Your official guide to the language, culture and style of hipsters young and old." —Los Angeles Timeship•ster - hip-stur (s) n. One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. ( it is no longer recommended that one use the term "cool"; a Hipster would instead say "deck.") The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat. Clues You Are a Hipster 1. You graduated from a liberal arts school whose football team hasn't won a game since the Reagan administration. 2. You frequently use the term "postmodern" (or its commonly used variation"PoMo") as an adjective, noun, and verb. 3. You carry a shoulder-strap messenger bag and have at one time or another worn a pair of horn-rimmed or Elvis Costello-style glasses. 4. You have refined taste and consider yourself exceptionally cultured, but have one pop vice (ElimiDATE, Quiet Riot, and Entertainment Weekly are popular ones) that helps to define you as well-rounded. 5. You have kissed someone of the same gender and often bring this up in casual conversation. 6. You spend much of your leisure time in bars and restaurants with monosyllabic names like Plant, Bound, and Shine. 7. You bought your dishes and a checkered tablecloth at a thrift shop to be kitschy, and often throw vegetarian dinner parties. 8. You have one Republican friend whom you always describe as being your "one Republican friend." 9. You enjoy complaining about gentrification even though you are responsible for it yourself. 10. Your hair looks best unwashed and you position your head on your pillow at night in a way that will really maximize your cowlicks. 11. You own records put out by Matador, DFA, Definitive Jux, Dischord, Warp, Thrill Jockey, Smells Like Records, and Drag City.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Pop Culture, Music, Sociology, Fashion, Lifestyle

182 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 4, 2003

About the author

Robert Lanham is the author of the beach towel classic, The Emerald Beach Trilogy, which includes the acclaimed works PreCoitus, Coitus, and Afterglow. More recent books include the satirical anthropological studies The Hipster Handbook, Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees, and other Creatures Unique the Republic, and The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right. Lanham's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Maxim, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Nylon, Playboy, TimeOut New York, and Radar and has been a guest on CNN and NPR to discuss his work. Lanham is the founder and editor of the trendsetting publication, FREEwilliamsburg.com—recently featured in a New York Magazine cover story about essential New York blogs—a publication covering the arts and culture of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Lanham moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1996. Lanham is currently the employee of the month at Foot Locker.

Reviews

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without this book I wouldn't know how to categorize, rank, and otherwise pigeonhole everyone I meet. Thanks, Hipster Handbook!

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book about hipsters, especially since it goes beyond showing some stereotypes (more types can be found in Kara Simsek's "So You Think You're A Hipster?" - you might have fun seeing how the types of the two books can be fit together). Although this book is now more than 10 years old - which means some of the hip things, including the slang, may be dated now - it does give you a good look into the type c.2003-ish.

There's slang, core elements of hipsterdom, people in history hipsters might like, on food and drink, cigarettes, styles of hair and beard, tattoos, greeting styles, a 'day in the life' report, place where they study or work, music + literature + cinema they like, people they find hot (and these have certainly changed since then), dating, ageing issues and finally a fun little test to see if you are a hipster.

Everything is laid clear, the drawing are great even in their black-and-whiteness, and it's a quick, informing little read. A pretty great read for the curious, even if it might be dated in some places (life and fashion move on, as we know). So I say: liked it and recommended :)

[Rowena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hilarious! I have absolutely nothing against hipsters but the title caught my eye, and I wanted to learn more about hipsters since Vancouver may be the hipster capital of Canada. This book mainly consists of lists to educate the reader about hipsters; for example, different types of hipsters, the kind of music they like, a glossary of hipster slang (I didn't recognize a single one),types of facial hair,the books they read, which colleges they are most likely to go to, and so on. It also gives hipsters tips about how to behave during corporate job interviews (don't call the interviewer "dude", for example), and tips for non-hipsters who date hipsters.

I actually found the book fascinating because, although it's satire, it's an interesting anthropological study into a group of people I don't know much about. It reminded me a bit of the book "How to be Canadian" by Will Ferguson in that respect.

It was definitely a change from my usually-heavy reading.

Oh, there's also an "Are you a hipster?" questionnaire at the back of the book:)

[Printable Tire]

Less a hipster handbook than a satire of a trend that never existed, or, more accurately, existed for two years between 2000-2002, this book is a good cultural relic for a time when hipsters thought computers were lame and still liked rock and roll. Some of it's pretty funny, and I learned some things along the way. For instance, did you know Walt Disney founded the California Institute of the Arts? Or that Willard Scott was Bozo the Clown? And I keep on laughing when I read this line:
"Hipsters are fairly diverse when it comes to choosing a grooming style for their bikini lines. Brazilian Bikini Waxes that leave a finger-length vertical stripe in front can be the perfect decision for Hipsters who want to add a little irony to their vaginas."
All the things that are listed as "deck" (cool) are disgustingly out of date, but the overall lifestyle and philosophy of the Hipster hasn't changed much in ten years. The only core change I've seen is the Hipster nowadays is less glibly ironic and more sincere or serious with their tastes, and less interested in kitschy wastes of time, less interested in ridiculous outfits than in political causes and a DIY culture where it seems the whole purpose is to self-educate at the expense of the uninitiated. But that's a sermon for another day.
I believe my Hipster type is somewhere between Pollit and Loner, but this paragraph from the Loner description really resonates with me:
"Loners are often genre-ists. They are usually into sci-fi, film noir, comics, and horror movies. No true Hipster would ever go to a Star Trek convention, but Loners have plenty of friends from high school who try to convince them that maybe they should. The urge is there, but the Loner knows that not acting on this and similar desires is what keeps him or her from becoming a dweeb. Battling impulses such as these is a daily struggle for the Loner."

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a copy of The Hipster Handbook by a former writing student who was bartending at the Knitting Factory for the book release party. I'd shown up for the Gotham Writers' Workshop faculty reading that followed the party, and Larry--my former student who'd missed most of my classes to deal with a "police matter" in Los Angeles--told me wryly, "I'm a Bipster." That's Hipster Handbook-speak for a blue-collar histper. Bipsters like playing darts and are prone to date rape. As if! Larry and I had a laugh as he handed me a Diet Coke. There's a quiz in the back and according to the Handbook I'm a literary hipster. (The books says Jackie O and Hemingway were, too.) Literary hipsters are romantic about love and prone to facial moles. I had to laugh because I have a very, very small mole near my lower lip. I only missed a few questions: computer (Dell before my shiny new Mac -- right answer!), wallet contents (Blockbuster card -- bad!), toothpaste (Pepsodent -- not an option), same-sex kissing (totally uncool, or "fin," to say no). Until then, I thought of hipsters as people who lived in edgy Brooklyn (I was an Upper West Sider), listened to indi rock from obscure labels (I had a soft spot for pop), and smoked cigarettes (I'm a triathle, 'nuf said). The Hipster Handbook is a humorous book that captures the essence of the 90s when being hip suddenly went mainstream. A classic.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved this only because it confirmed the fact that I am not a hipster, or at least one of the ones talked about in this book.

[Hank Stuever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic spotting and naming of a thing everyone sensed and needed defined just at that moment.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Christmas gift from my mom - The Hipster Handbook has been my bathroom read for the last 2 weeks or so.

A field guide to those who possess tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed "cool" by the cool; (except it's no longer cool to say "cool" - "deck" is the preferred term), this slim volume presents the world of the hipster in a straightforward manner. Overviews of the subtypes (Unemployed Trust-Funder, Clubber, The Schmooze, Waitstaff & Service Hipster, Neo-Crunch, & Bipster, among others) are interspersed among lists of do's and dont's, suggestions for music, foods, hairstyles, alcohol and literature, as well as "A Day in the Life" scenarios. The "Choosing a Look" illustrations ask the reader to decide if the illustrated look is "deck" or "fin".

The illustrations are nicely done and complement the text well; the tone is understated tongue-in-cheek. A quiz at the end helps the reader determine his or her level of hipness ("F*ck your Lame Test" = Punk Rocker). The final section discusses the dilemma of the aging Hipster, wrapping up with the advice "The most important thing to remember is to stay young at heart and have fun." Hmm... perhaps ... despite my Disney sweatshirts and Jimmy Buffett CD's, I'm a bit of a hipster after all!

Recommended to casual students of sociology looking for a lighthearted look at a subset of popular culture.

Notes & Quotes

"And, perhaps most important, if you are wearing a sweatshirt that has a Disney character on it, this book is not for you." :^P !

In the list of Historical Hipsters - Marlene Dietrich appears & is listed as inspiring "the deck song "Lola" by the Kinks". Oh really? :^)

Among the list of Deck Sites (p 77) - Fark, Slashdot and Salon, The Onion and The Smoking Gun. Been there, done (most of) that.

Hipster Occupations: Kinko's - "Be very afraid of Hipsters who work at Kinko's. Hipsters don't "go postal". They "go Kinko".

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny! The copy I read (from my local public library)had HIGHLIGHTED pages in the dating section-that made it even funnier. Everyone knows a few people who fit the hipster mold (I am not one of them). I thought of a hipster that was omitted- hairdresser/make up artist...I know a few.

[Sheehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing says a style has passed like a parody of how hip it was...

The drawings in this book were awesome, and the writing was crisp and insightful, great in- and out-group text...

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was younger, growing up not really connected to the “cool” and “fashionable” and living on the fringes of various subcultures, I occasionally wondered about the future and what trends, new fashions, and fads would come into being in the futuristic 2000s. I remember being vaguely aware of this new “hipster” thing, specifically from this book, which I flipped through casually at various bookstores and heard interviews on NPR, but not really connecting it to greater pop cultural themes. Now, looking back upon the so-called “hipster” subculture ten years later (again after living, for the most part unknowingly, upon its fringes) as it has begun its decline into stereotype and, well, the mainstream, Robert Lanham's “Hipster Handbook” seems to have an interesting place in the history of today's pop culture landscape.

At almost ten years old, the “Hipster Handbook” is obviously dated, but I feel that much in it is still relevant to today's 20 and 30 something “counter” culture, and one that has certainly permeated the fabric of American society since 2002. As a pseudo-academic anthropological study of this exotic subculture, Lanham illustrates the various brands of the movement, from the “Loner,” introverted obsessives with a love of cataloging (of which I have an affinity) to the “bipster,” appropriators of blue collar chic, many of these studies still resonate with the stereotype. In addition, Lanham also chronicles the many indicators of good taste as striven for by hipsters, including a (presumably) apocryphal glossary of slang, and lists of books, music, movies, and artists essential for the culture. Whether one denies vehemently one's hipsterhood or accepts it wholeheartedly (if such a contradiction is possible), much of the evolution of current trends was anticipated here.

Throughout the book Lanham retains a tongue in cheek, good natured humor that underscores the contradictions of attempting to define the undefinable, particularly for a group that is notoriously attracted to irony, that must undefinable and easily misused aspects of humor. I particularly enjoyed taking the hipster test at the end (which I seemed to have understood a lot better today than ten years ago), which feels to be an especially funny contradiction in terms (I got a 22- on the precipice). In any case, it is worth a few laughs and I did enjoy reading it, especially since it is such a quick read.

[Sin Tess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hipsters have their own society, that is living off the general society. Even though they are generally illustrates as young people, hipsers age, as the book indicates, but with age the hipster essence fades.

I liked the small ironic treaty about hipsters. It's pseudo-scientific, well written and not to mention funny. It analyses hipsters from all points of view and also it categorieses them.

The hipster handbook makes a big step in introducing the non-hipster to the small culture. With pick up lines and small descriptions of each category helps people understand.

But my question is: if a non-hipster understands, relates to hipsters and maybe becames one because of this book, then their culture doesn't become mainstreem?

[miha · Rating 1 out of 5]

K je ta knjiga resna?

So hipsterji res loh tok bedni?

Nism mogu prebrat več k 30 strani... pa še to so bli večino seznami stvari k so in niso Hipsterske... me je mal zanimal kaj točno hipster je in je vse kar sm se nauču da so to ljudje k se pretvarjajo da so nekej k niso in so jim všeč stvari samo zato ker so tud ljudem za ktere oni misljo d so deck, deck.

in deck se men sploh ne sliš kot nekej kar je dobr

Priviligirani razvajenčki k majo prenapihnjeno mnenje o sebi in svojih stvareh??? Kdo bi se hotu s tem identificerat??

Tok zlo vase zagledana, geografsko omejena knjiga,... Je možno da se je avtor sam iz sebe in hipsterjev delov norca, ma vseeno. Tok zlo mi je žou d sm se sploh lotu, da kr ne morem... aaagh

Kr slabe vole sm zdj :(

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly just didn't find this book to be funny at all, or even make sense for that matter. I suppose it's mostly because it's from 2002 or so, but I was really hoping to have a laugh while reading this, but also have something along the lines of the "Everybody Hurts" guide to being emo or whatever it's called... I actually found that book to be humorous in my youth while this one just falls incredibly short. Some of the things are sort of true which can be funny, but most of the time I was staring at the pages going WTF.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this one up because I felt that I needed a laugh. I live in a lower middle class area so we don't have too many hipsters. Self proclaimed "rednecks" are in abundance though. The few "hipsters" I have encountered (mostly at uni) are kind of stuck up, albeit interesting people. Actually, most people i run into that I would call hipsters arw fairly interesting.

This book mostly highlights the main attributes of hipsters. However, this ook was written ten years ago so it makes some "dated" references I suppose.

This is a fun book, and if it applies, that's cool too.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I, like totally bought this book, because it was so not hip for hipsters to admit to even knowing about this, and like, I had to stay one step ahead of the game by embracing the unhip and making it ironic. If that's not deck, what is?

Seriously, really amusing and dead-on with the stereotypes! Although I think the author may have used the 'essential reads' chapter to plug his friends' books...

Now this begs the question as what what the new cool will look like.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

...because it's important to know who to avoid. Perhaps I just know one too many of these people, but I found this book to be both hilarious and invaluable. I also found the descriptions of the various types of hipsters alarmingly on-target. Not only do I know one of each of them, I even know some that have been all of them at various stages. Truly, this book has helped me pigeonhole a lot of people I'd have otherwise wasted valuable waking thoughts on.

NC

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

So here I am dressed as fin as imaginable in my tie-die shirt and the test at the end of the book tells me I'm deck. The test came out more accurately for my husband pointing him out for for the poseur that he is. The illustrations are best part of the book and the most boring bits have to be the lengthy explanations of the various types of hipsters. By about the third one I just started skipping through these sections.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was a time when this was the funniest book in existence..now it's a stale joke, but you can steal appreciate it for it's pre-trend genius. The illustrations make it happen.

The sequel about all "other" types of people in the world non-hipster has a few shining moments, but overall is a let down.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terribly funny...especially to those of us who are so far removed from hipsterdom that we can laugh at our own attempts to be cool.

I love handbooks for cool. They are totally cool.

P.S. Don't read this book if you can't laugh at yourself because you will inevitably fall into one of the listed categories if you think of yourself at all outside the norm and were born after 1975.

[Chris "Stu" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't buy it. It's no different from what you can find on a thousand other blogs. There are some moments of recognition in it for anyone remotely interested in, well, culture, or anyone who has friends between the ages of 18-35, but it's not particularly smart or funny or worth your time to seek out.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, spot-on send-up of the young, urban, and cooler-than-thou. Fashion styles, music musts, ironic paraphernalia and other essential folkways are explored in this manual. There are pictures, too, but the only problem is that by mocking hipsters, you essentially become a hipster yourself. It's a paradox. Think about it.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe this is only funny if you have lived in such a hipster rich town such as seattle, but this humor is so brutal and dead on that its not humorous, its sad really. he pretentiously tears down pretentiousness. and he talks about chihuahomos - queer dudes with cute little dogs. no one will be better for reading this and they will probably be worse.

[Callina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty funny, especially if you are a hipster or have lots of hipster friends and like to laugh at them and/or yourself, or if you just want to look into becoming a hipster, this is the guide for you. I thought it was also very apropos that I bought this at Powell's in Portland, which I think is some kind of Mecca for hipsters.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

so this was a funny gift from one Sarah Parker.. it has some pretty hilarious little cartoons if I remember correctly. While on some level it was kind of accurate (I could definitely think of people that resemble some of its categories), it should by no means be taken as a literal handbook.. its already outdated and anyone that actually fits into its prescription is by no means "hip".

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

the worst part about this book isn't that you know these people -- it's that you ARE one of the character types described. this was hilarious. very funny take on the culture of the cool kids. the interesting effect of reading this book is that after you realize you're part of a scene, you want to leave it immediately.

[Juju · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learn where hipsters hang out and their alcoholic drinks of choice! Check out the types of hipster and see which you are or wish you were! Browse the glossary for lots of hilarious hipsterspeak I've never heard anyone use! Peruse the hipster hairdo galleries! Study the hipster love chart and see which matches are sure things and which are likely to crash and burn!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive and thorough. Very informative. Also existential. Hipsters love to make fun of other hipsters, without realizing that they themselves are also hipsters. Am I a hipster? What makes hipster truely a hipster? What is the essense of "hipster"? No one can ever really answer thse burning questions. But thank god someone tried.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim recommended it to me. The book has only gotten funnier since I moved to Seattle. And I would feel the same way even if it didn't mention my alma mater on page 98. Though I would say there are enough jokes I don't get that I can't give it the full five stars.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parents-- do you think your child might be a hipster? Read this book before it's too late to stop them from wandering down that dark, denim-and-vinyl road to Hell.

In all seriousness, this is fairly brilliant pop anthropology.