Anna Minte's Q1: A Survival Guide to Adulting is a nonfiction self- help book for new adults. Minte is a college professor who lives and works in the Dominican Republic. While the midlife crisis is a relatively well-known phenomenon that seems to affect at least one-quarter of the American population according to one national survey, most adults don’t consider the impact of what Minte refers to as the Q1 crisis, something which seems to be impacting millennials at a greater rate. Millennials, Minte argues, have different challenges and opportunities from those encountered by previous generations. Many new adults have eschewed the concept of a 40-60 hour work week with retirement planned decades away. Instead, they choose to work several part-time jobs or freelance. Housing is also a particular challenge for millennials -- do they continue to live at home to save up funds or make a break and take on the challenge of monthly rent and utility payments? Minte shares her own experiences as she navigated her way through the rocky shoals of Q1, including her time at college, both at home and abroad, her romantic entanglements and her efforts to make sure she’s not one of the three dreaded personality types that are far too easy to fall into.

While Anna Minte’s Q1: A Survival Guide to Adulting is geared toward a new adult audience, I think it’s got a lot to offer adults of any age who are taking good hard looks at the direction in which their lives are going and wondering if there’s a better way. That said, I loved seeing how she was able to discuss issues affecting people who are no longer children and still feeling somewhat strange and new at being adults. Her stories and anecdotes are marvelous and seem to pose the argument that if this admittedly flawed and fallible author can make a go of adulting and be successful at it, why can’t the reader? I appreciated how she begins her work with a discussion of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and offers her own personal take on it. Minte describes herself as a lifelong writer, and that gift is immediately apparent in this well written, enlightening and fun-to-read book. She has the ability to make you feel as though she’s sitting across the kitchen table from you, sharing funny stories and commiserating on the challenges and missteps involved in growing up. Minte's Q1: A Survival Guide to Adulting is most highly recommended.