Things the Grandchildren Should Know is an autobiographic book by Mark Oliver Everett who is the front man of the independent rock band Eels. Everett spent a year composing the book between the release of the retrospectives Meet The Eels: Essential Eels, Vol. 1 (1996–2006) and Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996–2006and the composition of 2009's Hombre Lobo.

The book shares its title with the closing track from the Eels' 2005 album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. In that song Everett takes on the persona of an elderly grandfather sharing the wisdom he has learned about life shortly before his death. The parallels between the song and the book are loose, as the real Everett is much younger than his song persona. He remarks in the final chapter the paradox of the book's title given that he has no children, let alone grandchildren.