"This fun book may not be specifically dedicated to photography, but it’s an unusual and enjoyable read – and, obviously, very cool." — Black And White Photography Cool. Whether it's a cool guy, cool sunglasses, or a cool film - the attribute 'cool', which until the early '90s was still the definitive identifier of rebellious youth culture speech, is now encountered globally and across all social classes in an almost inflationary manner. "Coolness" - on the one hand today a fashion word devoid of content, on the other a self-confidently lived, late-modern individual attitude and behavioral strategy with rebellious roots against a twisted and unjust world. Michael Köckritz gets to the bottom of the word 'coolness' with a holistic view, researches and collages history and stories, talks to interdisciplinary experts about backgrounds and developments, characteristics and criteria, identifies with you the icons and personalities that so strikingly shape our modern image of coolness. The result is an entertainingly stimulating as well as creative journey of discovery approaching the facets of a timelessly fascinating phenomenon of longing. This reflected, precise look at the concepts of cool and coolness becomes an impressive plea for coolness as a timelessly modern, emotional experience and self-confident "attitude" that lives attractively from a refusal of bourgeois norms and not fitting in, and at the same time fascinates with a distinctly aesthetic dimension.