Esquire Etiquette: The Modern Man's Guide to Good Form

Esquire columnist Waggoner and writer Moloney (coauthors of Baseball by the Rules) maintain the formula of the original Esquire Etiquette, which appeared in 1953 and was noted, as Esquire founder Arnold Gingrich put it, for being ""one etiquette book that could be read for fun.'' This alphabetical guide discusses, among other contemporary topics, answering machines, birth control, cohabitation, dutch treats (``If you're half a couple, there's really no excuse for splitting the check''), first dates, gifts, handshakes, introductions, jokes (``Telling jokes to people you don't know can be very chancy''), kissing (``Call us old-fashioned, but we think it should, for the most part, take place in private''), tipping, wine and ``zoo'' (``Yes, it's a zoo out there, but nowhere is it writtenat least not in these pagesthat you have to behave like an animal''). The authors blend wit and a sense of style with commonsense advice. As Esquire editor Lee Eisenberg notes in his foreword, ``the book is, above all, rootedin a commitment to practicality.''(November)