Campus Life Exposed: Advice from the Inside
Harlan Cohen, author of the syndicated "Help Me, Harlan!" advice column,  comes to the aid of rising freshmen withCampus Life Exposed. Cohen goes  beyond credits and blue books to delve into the real life problems that have  been sent to him by his college-aged readers. The hurdles facing new students  are gathered into chapters like "Finding a Date on Campus" and "My Disgusting,  Angry, Irresponsible, Alcoholic, Pot-Smoking Roommate" and illustrated by a few  selected columns. The book is engagingly chatty, and Cohen is unafraid to dig  into his own experiences to make his points. In fact, he makes a special point  of exposing college's dirtiest little secret: it is entirely possible that  freshman year might suck. Cohen goes into the possible reasons for said sucking,  and suggests ways of getting around them. WhileCampus Life Exposeddefinitely comes down on the side of common sense--there is an extended section  on STDs and a graphic cautionary tale on binge drinking--it never makes the  mistake of getting preachy. Cohen acknowledges that most kids cutting loose on a  college campus for the first time are going to do a little experimenting, and  that college is a time for making mistakes. He also suggests that students who  make those mistakes write in so he can share their hard-won wisdom in the next  edition.--Ali Davis