We Learn Nothing Essays

"Kreider locates the right simile and the pith of situations as he carefully catalogues humanity's inventive and manifold ways of failing" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review). Satirical cartoonist Tim Kreider turns his funny, brutally honest eye to the dark truths of the human condition, asking big questions about human-sized problems: What if you survive a brush with death and it doesn't change you? Why do we fall in love with people we don't even like? What do you do when a friend becomes obsessed with a political movement and won't let you ignore it? Irreverent yet earnest, he shares deeply personal experiences and readily confesses his vicesbetraying his addiction to lovesickness, for example, and the gray area that he sees between the bold romantic gesture and the illegal act of stalking. Here, we witness Kreider's tight-knit crew struggle to deal witha pathologically-lying friend who won't ask for help. We watch him navigate a fraught relationship with a lonely uncle in jail whoas he degenerates into madnesscontinues to plead for the support of his conflicted nephew. And we cringe as he gets outed as a "moby" at a Tea Party rally. Uncompromisingly candid, sometimes mercilessly so, these comically illustrated essays are rigorous exercises in self-awareness and self-reflection. These are the conversations you only have with best friends or total strangers, late at night over drinks, near closing time.

Tim Kreider has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Week, The Men’s Journal, and Nerve.com. His popular comic strip, The Pain—When Will It End?, ran in alternative weeklies for twelve years and has been collected in three books by Fantagraphics. He is the author of two collections of essays, We Learn Nothing and I Wrote This Book Because I Love You. He divides his time between New York City and an undisclosed location on the Chesapeake Bay.