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We're all about observations on work, culture, technology, and the curious theater of modern life.

Every once in a while you notice something slightly strange about modern life.

A meeting that seems to run entirely on jargon.

A software program that insists on having a conversation instead of doing its job.

A social media platform that quietly counts your reactions like a performance review.

You look around the room. Everyone else appears perfectly calm. You nod politely.  Inside, however, a small voice asks a perfectly reasonable question: Is it just me, or is something odd going on here?

That question is the beginning of CrankyBooks.

We're an independent publishing project exploring modern work, identity, media, technology, and culture through essays, satire, commentary, and books that try to make sense of the peculiar systems we all live inside.

The first book to emerge from this project is Cool on the Outside, Screaming on the Inside, which explores the curious tension between the composed image we project to the world and the complicated reality most of us experience beneath the surface.

Think of this site as a small laboratory for ideas, essays, and books that examine the modern world with curiosity, skepticism, and the occasional raised eyebrow.

Our First Book

Cool on the Outside, Screaming on the Inside is a satirical look at the emotional performance of modern professional life. 

Feel free to request a complimentary audiobook edition.

Read Excerpts here

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What is Cool?

Where it started, why it still matters

Reviews

What readers have said

Also on this website:

Notes from Inside

Short reflections on work, technology, identity, the algorithm, and the small absurdities that appear once you begin paying attention.