Perhaps, in your parents' eagerness to smooth life's bumpy road, they took such good care of you that you never learned how to be a self-sufficient human being. And now here you are, all grown up. What next?

You may think you don't really need to know how to make a proper cup of coffee. You've never given much thought to your listening skills, or how one goes about saving money, or stocking a bar. But knowing these things will really make you a much more well-rounded and all-around more charming and useful person, one who is more apt to be invited over for dinner. In fact, a lot of us might benefit from having a few gentle hints about housekeeping, habits, and behavior lobbed in our general direction. With advice and information ranging from How to Boil an Egg to How to Go a Whole Day Without Spending Money—in chapters as diverse as the Upside of Being Single and Lonely and the Hangover: Badge of Courage or Waste of a Day?—Were You Raised by Wolves? will help you come away more confident about important issues such as where the hell to put those flowers somebody brought over last night.

So let's all of us embrace our adulthood, shall we? If your mother still chews your food for you and your dad still fills your gas tank, it's time to put on those big boy pants and jump into the deep end of the pool where the grown-ups swim.