No one ever explained how adulthood actually works.There was no handbook for navigating work, money, burnout, relationships, or the constant pressure to appear functional while quietly improvising everything. Somehow, you were expected to figure it out as you went-preferably without complaining and always on time.The Manual They Never Gave You is a clear-eyed, dryly humorous guide to modern adulthood, written for people who suspect that everyone else is pretending too.This is not self-help in the traditional sense. There are no morning routines, productivity hacks, or promises of transformation. Instead, this book explores the unspoken realities of work culture, financial anxiety, hustle myths, social performance, emotional exhaustion, and the strange comfort of realizing you're not uniquely failing at any of it.With sharp observation and calm honesty, Richard Crawford examines: Why work consumes so much time without delivering clarityHow money became both essential and incomprehensibleWhy burnout isn't a personal flawHow social media turned life into a performanceAnd why pretending everything is fine became a survival skillThis book doesn't offer solutions because most of the problems aren't individual ones. What it offers is recognition, perspective, and relief.If you've ever felt behind, overwhelmed, or quietly skeptical of the rules you were never taught, this is the manual you should have received.You're not doing it wrong.You were just never given the instructions.