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Book summary and reviews of This Is How by Augusten Burroughs

This Is How by Augusten Burroughs

This Is How

Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.

by Augusten Burroughs

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • May 2012
    240 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

To say that Augusten Burroughs has lived an unusual life is an understatement.  From having no formal education past third grade and being raised by his mother's psychiatrist in the seventies to enjoying one of the most successful advertising careers of the eighties to experiencing a spectacular downfall and rehab stint in the nineties to having a number one bestselling writing career in the new millennium, Burroughs has faced humiliation, transformation and everything in between.  This Is How is his no-holds-barred book of advice on topics as varied as:

  • How to feel like crap
  • How to ride an elevator
  • How to be thin
  • How to be fat
  • How to find love
  • How to feel sorry for yourself
  • How to get the job
  • How to end your life
  • How to remain unhealed
  • How to finish your drink
  • How to regret as little as possible

And much more

Told with Burroughs's unique voice, black humor, and in-your-face advice, This is How is Running With Scissors- with recipes.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. In this hilarious and searingly straightforward memoir, Burroughs (Running with Scissors) turns the self-help genre upside down with his advice." - Publishers Weekly

"Not a memoir, it reads more like a conversation with a close friend about truthfulness and authenticity, figuring things out and being hopeful, starting from where one is and learning to listen to oneself." - library Journal

"Despite pages of platitudes, Burroughs provides plenty of worthy material on the absurdity of the human condition and the unpredictability of contemporary life." - Kirkus Reviews

This information about This Is How was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Augusten Burroughs Author Biography

© Dennis Pilsits

Augusten Burroughs is the author of Running with Scissors, Dry, Magical Thinking: True Stories, Possible Side Effects, A Wolf at the Table and You Better Not Cry. Burroughs's writing has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers around the world including The New York Times and New York Magazine. He resides in New York City and Western Massachusetts.

Link to Augusten Burroughs's Website

Name Pronunciation
Augusten Burroughs: au-GUS-ten

Other books by Augusten Burroughs at BookBrowse
  • Running with Scissors jacket

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