It amazes me that college graduates can spend tens of thousands of dollars on their degrees, and still lack the basic skills needed to survive in the workforce.

Fortunately, there’s a book for that.

Jim Randel, author of the popular The Skinny On… series, has created Street Smarts: Beyond the Diploma, a comprehensive guide to surviving in the real world.

Randel has taken the expertise from successful people from all walks of life and pulled it together in Street Smarts to create a useful guide to surviving the “school of hard knocks.”

Street Smarts is designed for the Internet Age.  There are 125 single-page lessons on everything from developing yourself as a brand to making a budget.  The lessons are quick reads and easy to follow.  In addition there are QR codes on every page that will lead you to additional information online to help you expand your street smarts. You can also download a copy of the e-book version to read on the go.

I was impressed with the broad range of topics covered in this book; There is a lot of really practical information such as how to handle identity theft, developing your public speaking skills, improving your memory and an intro to investing.  Randel touches on just about every area of your life you might need to work on with interesting facts and commentary from people who have been there.

It would be easy to read this book, and say, “Well, duh… this isn’t anything new.”  And you’d be right.  But it’s information that often gets lost in the day-to-day chaos of scratching out a living.  Sometimes we need simple reminders (the ol’ kick in the seat of the pants) to set our thinking back on the right track.

While Street Smarts is geared toward recent college grads, I found the simple lessons to be excellent reminders of things I could be doing to improve my life.  It challenged me to think about myself and my goals, and any book that can make you do that is well worth the read.

Note: While Rand Media Company did provide me with a review copy of this book, the opinions expressed here are 100 percent my own and were not edited by the publisher, author(s), or their affiliates.  This post also contains affiliate links which help support this blog at no additional cost to you.  Please read my full disclosure policy for more information.