From the author of funny classics like âHow to Tell Your Friends from the Apesâ and âThe Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody.â Here in âHow to Be a Hermitâ are humorous essays and stories discussing house cleaning, cooking, sardines, spinach, clams, lettuce, cabbage, beans, coffee, budgets, entertaining, and the holidays. Will Cuppy (1884-1949) wrote extensively on his life as a hermit, the natural world, and just about anything else that proved the world was out to get him. Think of this book like a humorous memoir by a financially-challenged book reviewer living alone in a shack on an island off Long Island, New York, in the 1920s. âHow to be a Hermitâ first published in 1929, now public domain, was his first bestseller. Hilarious stuff!