Generation WTF: From What the #$%&! to a Wise, Tenacious, and Fearless You: Advice on How to Get There from Experts and WTFers Just Like You - Softcover

Whelan, Christine B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 159947347X ISBN 13: 9781599473475

Publisher: Templeton Press, 2011

Synopsis

We all know what “WTF” usually stands for: it’s an exclamation of frustration and anger, and it’s an understandable reaction to the tough new economic realities that have hit young adults harder than any other group. WTF happened to promises of a bright future? What happened to the jobs? And what do we do now that the rules have changed?

Recent college grads were raised in a time of affluence and entitlement, lulled into thinking that a golden future would just happen. With few role models to teach values like thrift, perseverance, and self-control, young adults are ill-equipped to cope with sacrifice and failure, and their dismal employment prospects are merely the most visible symptom of greater challenges.

Fortunately, it’s not too late to change course. This optimistic, introspective, and technologically savvy generation already possesses many of the tools they need to thrive—if only they learn to harness the necessary skills for success.

In Generation WTF, Christine Whelan does just that. Dr. Whelan, one of the foremost authorities on the history of the self-help genre, worked with more than one hundred young people to test and tweak the very best old-school advice and personalize it for the modern twenty-something. After a decade of researching the industry—and years advising “WTFers” as they struggle to make their way in the “real world”—Dr. Whelan knows firsthand what advice works and what Generation WTF has to offer.

Rather than focusing on the frustration that “WTF” usually stands for, Dr. Whelan leads the charge to reclaim the acronym as a battle cry for a positive future: Generation WTF will be a wise, tenacious, and fearless generation, strengthened by purpose and hope. This practical new guide will show these WTFers the way to success and instill lasting habits that will serve them well in both good times and bad.

About this title

About the Author

Christine B. Whelan, PhD, is a professor, author and journalist. She is a visiting assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. She earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford for her research on the self-help industry. Dr. Whelan is the author of Marry Smart: The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to True Love and Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women. She has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, among others. She writes a bi-weekly relationship advice column for BustedHalo, a young adult website. She has appeared live on television and radio programs across the nation.

From Publishers Weekly

In this guidebook, sociology professor Whelan provides frustrated 20-somethings a roadmap to success in harsh, postrecessionary reality, using her own WTF formulation: wisdom, tenacity, and fearlessness. Her hands-on self-help program, the result of a decade-long analysis of bestselling titles, from Scott Peck's legendary The Road Less Traveled to Suze Orman's Money Book, emphasizes the importance of determining (and remembering) values and purpose; she advises on everything from handling procrastination and stress to finding love and managing finances. Firsthand accounts of actual generation WTF-ers demonstrating the effectiveness of Whelan's techniques abound. Furthermore, the book involves a great deal of reader participation, making this solid book a tangible experience as well as an informative and inspirational one. Whelan's intent is pragmatic and meaningful: to create a sense of clarity in a universe of tormenting uncertainty. (Jan.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Templeton Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 159947347X
• ISBN 13: 9781599473475
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288