Tag: dating

dating cover

Don’t make a dating mistake!

Department of God, Talkin 'Bout My Generation 7 comments

Dating
Narramore
1961

Looking for some old fashioned advice about dating? Here is an option for you from the early 1960s. I found this in a university library which is probably the most appropriate place for this material.

Considering it is the early 1960s and geared to Christian teens, you can probably guess how the advice goes:

  • Don’t date someone who isn’t a Christian
  • Save your sexual purity for marriage
  • Don’t go out to clubs, movies, and do other “non-Christian” activities
  • Listen to your parents

It is important to remember that getting pregnant out of wedlock was pretty much the worst thing that could happen to a woman. You could get fired from a job, kicked out of school, shunned by family or shipped off to an “unwed mothers” home. Hence, these books were really about putting the literal fear of God in teenagers.

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geek dating cover

Time to freak with your geek!

Ha Ha Ha?, Life, Death, Love, and Marriage 6 comments

The Geek’s Guide to Dating
Smith
2013

I am just going to assume that librarians fall into the definition of “geek”. This little book uses a gaming metaphor for the entire book while dispensing some relationship advice. It is cute and more about the metaphor than any meaningful special advice for those with a geeky outlook on life.

This is also sitting in the 800s rather than 646.77 or any other Dewey. So even though it is dating/relationships, it is really a humor book. It went out a bunch of times when it was new, but has been languishing in the collection for the last couple of years. I also want to point out that as technology has evolved, I would imagine so has the technology based humor.

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find the man of your dreams using the internet cover

Dating when the bar is low

Bleeding Edge, Life, Death, Love, and Marriage 8 comments

How to get the man of your dreams using the Internet
Chance
2005

Ladies! Here is your chance to find the man of your dreams using the Internet. We have had a lot of dating books on our website over the years. By the time this book was published, many online dating sites were still in their early days. Very little is offered about finding the right type of service, although the author said that a good quality in a service is a chat room.

The advice is thin, even for the early days of Internet dating. Some of the other books we have featured on our site about Internet dating have more depth than this book.

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teen dating cover

Teen Dating in the 1980s

Life, Death, Love, and Marriage, Talkin 'Bout My Generation 4 comments

Teen Dating
Stewart
1984

Aside from the crunchy brown paper, and a girl sporting a Cosby sweater, this isn’t too bad on the teen dating advice front. Yes it is outdated, but the advice is pretty generic. Look for qualities that are about friendship, be respectful, etc. A lot of the book is devoted to understanding social situations. There are tips on throwing a party, entertaining a date, going to prom, and other group activities as well.

However, it is glaringly out of date in terms of technology and social norms. I also think it is important to reiterate how important cover art is to getting someone to actually pick up the book. Fast forward 10 or so years, and the book looks dated. After 30 years, it is a book suitable for this blog.

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Don't be that girl - cover

Don’t be THAT girl

Celebrity Gossip and Advice, Ladies only! 5 comments

Don’t Be That Girl
Stork
2008

Submitter: Remember back in 2007 when noted TV personality and (“The Doctors”) Doctor Travis Stork was at the height of his popularity? Neither do I. Either way, he managed to write almost 200 pages on what to do to not be THAT girl, in a tone that one Amazon reviewer thought had just the right touch of “nurturing” and was only “slightly arrogant.” Which is baffling to me as my colleague and I flip through the pages.

I probably wouldn’t have bought this when it came out, whether the intention was to be actually insightful or just to write something with shock value (maybe both?). Finding in the the public library stacks today, I’d consider it at best an overly dated celeb/dating book, and at worst, something a patron might’ve taken to their local representative if they found it before me.

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