Be Cool

From the comedic, often luminous mind of Ben Tanzer comes a memoir about one of life’s true complexities: being cool. Written in touching vignettes, like snapshots of history, Tanzer eloquently illuminates his past with humor and resolve. From crushing on columnists of Tiger Beat magazine to losing his virginity after his “second attempt to do so”; from his love of Comic Con and Sci-Fi to his struggles with infertility, Be Cool is a confession to a generation of readers, done so with acute precision and utmost trust.

“Ben Tanzer has that ever elusive elixir, that ability to be both funny and poignant simultaneously. These essays have that requisite gallows humor about being a parent, but there’s tenderness oozing from the page, too, a kind of trickling empathy.” —Joshua Mohr, author of Fight Song