How To Be A Nonconformist is a 1968 book written and illustrated by Elissa Jane Karg, a 16-year-old schoolgirl from Norwalk, Connecticut, that outlines a series of 22 steps to becoming “a bona fide nonconformist”.
Originally appearing in her school newspaper, they were later published by Scholastic and contain wry observations like “Avoid socks. They are the fatal give-away of a phony nonconformist” and “The ultimate goal of a sincere nonconformist is to be socially unacceptable”.
Karg’s witty, cynical tone satirizes the various archetypes that are still recognizable and present today, such as the misunderstood artist-hipster, the Internet commentator who spews nasty comments online, the activist who protests for the sake of protesting, and the musician who proclaims her mental illness as a sign of genius.
Rather than ruthlessly bashing the examples she writes about, Karg chooses to highlight the message that subscribing to any prescriptive lifestyle closes us off to new experiences and makes caricatures out of ourselves, ironically turning us into a different stereotype altogether.
Though long out of print, you can still savor her wonderful drawings below.
[via Brain Pickings]