Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone by Eric Klinenberg

Release date: 2012 / 288 pages

Synopsis(from Amazon):  In 1950, only 22 percent of American adults were single. Today, more than 50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million—roughly one out of every seven adults—live alone…  In GOING SOLO, renowned sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg proves that these numbers are more than just a passing trend. They are, in fact, evidence of the biggest demographic shift since the Baby Boom: we are learning to go solo, and crafting new ways of living in the process. Klinenberg explores the dramatic rise of solo living, and examines the seismic impact it’s having on our culture, business, and politics.

Review:  Sometimes a book arrives and I think, “Hmmm, I wondered why that one appealed to me?”  I have total control over the books I choose to review — which works out well for everyone concerned since I get to read only what I enjoy and the authors and publishers get positive reviews!  I think I chose Going Solo due to the subtitle “The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone.”  I wasn’t surprised by “the appeal” of living alone — I thoroughly enjoyed living alone for many years until I met my husband in my mid-thirties.  He also enjoyed living alone before meeting me and I think this commonality has benefited our relationship, especially since we both work from home and have recently moved to a state where we only know each other.  We both understand the need for independence and allow space to “recharge our batteries.”

But I was surprised by the “extraordinary rise” of living solo.  Historically, living alone was not considered advantageous or appealing — solo dwellers were often thought of as narcissistic social misfits or living alone against their will — at least in the U.S.  However, “today, more than 50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million — roughly one out of every seven adults — live alone” (5). And this statistic does not include the 8 million Americans who live in assisted living facilities, nursing homes or prisons.  People who live alone are “now tied with childless couples as the most prominent residential type — more common than the nuclear family…” and are primarily women (5).  Reasons for this shift include “the rising status of women, the communications revolution, mass urbanization, and the longevity revolution… conditions in which the individual could flourish” (13).

Klinenberg was asked to investigate this topic as a result of a book he wrote about the 1995 lethal heat wave in Chicago where  the hundreds of people died alone after having grown dangerously isolated.  Married with two children, Klinenberg was initially reluctant to tackle this project, but eventually decided to see if he could “discover something fundamental about who we are and what we value today” (24).

Klinenberg examines solo-living from many angles — single-by-choice, single to escape past pain, what single-living looks like in many different countries (for example, 47% of the residents in Sweden live alone — 60% in Stockholm).  His study is interesting, but his initial reluctance is still present.  The sections on aging alone are prominent (and thought-provoking) and many of his subjects are ambivalent about their single dwelling status.  I would love to read a similar work done on Swedish solos — I think a more upbeat mood would prevail.  However, the reality of aging is important to consider, and our country is still quite new to embracing that people can choose to live alone and be fulfilled.

Interested?  Please leave me a comment and I’ll choose a winner soon!

Tuesday, January 31st: The Feminist Texican

Wednesday, February 1st: Living Single

Thursday, February 2nd: Rachel’s Musings

Friday, February 3rd: Book Club Classics!

Monday, February 6th: The Spinsterlicious Life

Wednesday, February 8th: Carol Scibelli

Thursday, February 9th: Sixty and Single in Seattle

Monday, February 13th: Onely: Single and Happy

Monday, February 20th: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Tuesday, February 21st: Singularly Happy

Thursday, February 23rd: It’s All About Balance

Monday, February 27th: Womens Talk

Wednesday, February 29th: Boldly Go Solo

TBD: Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms

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Going Solo: Review and Free Giveaway

Throwaway Players

Release date: 2011 /  250 pages

Synopsis (from Amazon.com):  The NFL insists players know they’re playing a dangerous game, but players never see the deteriorated mental capacities of their former heroes. Throwaway Players is former Tampa Bay Buccaneers president Gay Culverhouse’s story of the broken bodies and lost souls of the men who have left the locker room and what remains after the cheering subsides. Focused on making money rather than the well-being of their players, this is the dark side of football the NFL doesn’t want fans to see.

Review: The best exposes involve an outsider with insider status.  As a female president of an NFL team, Gay Culverhouse has insider’s privileges with an outsider’s perspective and the result is Throwaway Players, a book every football player, parent, and fan should read about the lasting effect “America’s game” has on its players.

Culverhouse, former president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and graduate of the University of Florida and Columbia University, has spent the past two decades researching the cumulative effects of steroid use and concussive injuries — and her findings are shocking.  The ever-increasing rate of CTE (chronic traumatic encelopathy) found in the autopsies of former players is in striking contrast to the NFL’s position that playing football does not lead to cognitive impairment later in life.

Unable to remain quiet about her findings, Culverhouse formed The Gay Culverhouse Players’ Outreach Program, Inc. and testified before Congress, which lead to the current policy of requiring an independent neurologist on the sidelines of every NFL game.

Throwaway Players is not a dry recitation of medical statistics, however. As the president of an NFL team, Culverhouse formed strong bonds with many players and was horrified by how these once vibrant, healthy athletes had deteriorated so quickly.  Throwaway Players is filled with these players’ stories – numerous and sobering.

Still a fan of the sport, Culverhouse’s mission is to educate parents and players about the cumulative and irreversible effects of steroid use and concussive injuries in an attempt to create a safer sport that better earns the moniker “America’s game.” Thank you to Shelf Awareness for asking me to read and review this!

Interested in winning a free copy? Please leave me a comment!

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Throwaway Players: Review and Giveaway

Release date: 2011 /  316 pages

Synopsis (from jacket cover):   When a bankruptcy robbed her family of financial security, Lindsay Frucci decided the way back to marital and family bliss was to start a business that would make gobs of money.  At age forty-four, out of the mantra ‘there must be something I can do’ and a passion for fat-laden, fudgy brownies that made it hard to zip her jeans, an idea was born: healthy brownies for the masses. In a leap of faith borne on the wings of innocence and naivete, she founded No Pudge! Foods, Inc., and began an epic journey of unexpected personal growth and discovery.

First sentence: We had three cars, two sons, a golden retriever, and an in-ground pool.

Review: Maybe because of the approach of New Year’s resolutions, I have lately been inundated with health and fitness books.  First I read Working Out Sucks, which was much better than the title implied and provided a nice reminder of why healthy choices should become daily habits.  Then I read Chubster, which focused only on losing weight (and still being “hip”), but not necessarily on health (interesting section praising McDonald’s and criticizing Micheal Pollan — I was not the author’s intended audience…).  Then Lindsay Frucci contacted me about reading and reviewing her memoir The Pig & Me, which I also assumed would be about losing weight.

Instead, I found a delightful, fast-paced, realistic story of one woman’s journey to start her own business (fat-free brownies) and discover her own identity beyond her roles as mom and wife.  I read The Pig & Me on a flight home from Thanksgiving — just over 2 hours long — and Frucci was a wonderful travelling companion.

She is very honest about the challenges of starting a business as a forty-something woman with no previous business experience — as well as the trials of balancing the demands of home and work with two sons and a reluctant husband.  The Fruccis had filed bankruptcy due to a business opportunity that quickly soured, so Lindsay’s husband was understandably suspect of another entrepreneurial venture.  However, Lindsay forges ahead and attempts to establish a client-base for her No Pudge! brownies.

The Pig & Me is a successful memoir due to Frucci’s honest and engaging tone and I think most women — and quite a few men — would enjoy spending a couple of hours with her. I recommend this without reservation.

Interested in winning a free copy?  Drop me a comment and I will choose a new winner soon!

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The Pig & Me: Review and Free Giveaway

Horses Never Lie About Love

Publication date / length: 2004 / 242

Summary: (according to Amazon):  When Jana Harris moved with her husband to Washington State for a teaching job, she realized that she could also fulfill her lifelong dream of having a horse farm. And Harris knew the horse on whom she could build her dreams the minute she saw her on a ranch in the Eastern Mountains where a herd had been corralled to be sold: a beautiful, deep dark red–colored mare known as a blood bay, standing about sixteen hands, with a pretty head with a white star and a narrow stripe that slid down her face to two black nostrils. Something about the way the mare guarded her handsome foal, a black two-month-old 200-pound colt, spoke to Harris. The mare was named True Colors…

In 1986, Jana Harris and her husband were offered teaching jobs in Seattle and decided to pursue Jana’s desire to breed and raise horses.  They found a farm in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and bought a deep red mare-in-foal named True Colors.  When True Colors arrives, months later, she is scarred from a range fire and terrified of everything — men, the smell of fabric softener, and any sudden movements – - but still pregnant and eventually becomes the foundation of Harris’s breeding establishment.

Through perseverance and determination, Harris is able to gain the trust of the mare and the subsequent twenty-five years with True Colors is described with luminous imagery and characterization in the spirit of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small.  Harris, twice nominated for the Pulitzer and winner of the Pushcart Prize for poetry, brings each individual personality — equine and human — to life, from the over-perfumed veterinarian Darcy to the hen-pecked farrier Red.  Her gift at description finds the perfect subject matter in horses: “Her irises were a many-layered deep chestnut and when I looked into them I saw rock formations that reminded me of the Grand Tetons. Her body might have been here in our barn, but her soul was loose running across the scablands of the high desert range” (95).  Harris’s memoir is a compelling tale of dedication, courage, and faith. Thank you to Shelf Awareness for asking me to read and review this!

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Sunday Salon: Horses Never Lie About Love

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin

Release date: 2005 / 324  pages

Synopsis (from Amazon.com):  Why would a cow lick a tractor? Why are collies getting dumber? Why do dolphins sometimes kill for fun? How can a parrot learn to spell? How did wolves teach man to evolve? Temple Grandin draws upon a long, distinguished career as an animal scientist and her own experiences with autism to deliver an extraordinary message about how animals act, think, and feel. She has a perspective like that of no other expert in the field, which allows her to offer unparalleled observations and groundbreaking ideas.  People with autism can often think the way animals think, putting them in the perfect position to translate “animal talk.” Grandin is a faithful guide into their world, exploring animal pain, fear, aggression, love, friendship, communication, learning, and, yes, even animal genius. The sweep of Animals in Translation is immense and will forever change the way we think about animals. 

First Sentence: People who aren’t autistic always ask me about the moment I realized I could understand the way animals think.

Review: Those of you who have read my Sunday Salon reviews lately must be noticing a pattern by now  I’ve been meaning to read Temple Grandin’s work for quite a while and finally requested Animals Make Us Human and Animals in Translation from my new library.  As a face-to-face classroom teacher (as opposed to my current online position), I had the privilege of teaching many autistic students.  My own need for structure in the classroom was compatible with my autistic students and we worked very well together.  In addition, I was not a teacher with a high “warm-and-fuzzy” need from my students.  So, after getting to know a number of students with this fascinating condition, I was interested in reading Grandin’s work — especially about animals, which have always been a passion.

Animals in Translation addressed why so many autistic people seem to communicate so well with animals — from a brain-based perspective.  Animals and autistic people tend to be “hyper-specific” rather than “generalists,” like the vast majority of the human population tend to be.  Grandin explains why this is and how parts of the brain are similar in both animals and autistic people, both of whom tend not to think in language.

I learned a tremendous amount about why my two horses — a “hot-blooded” Arab mix and a “cool-blooded” Quarter Horse — are so different and how I can meet their individual needs.  I also better understand how to approach my “high fear” pitbull and “low fear” German Shepherd/Rhodesian Ridgeback mixes.  The male puppy has a job — tending the horses and keeping me company during barn chores and seems quite fulfilled.  The female, submissive and sweet but with a tendency to roam, cannot join us off-leash and would benefit from a job herself.  Grandin presents many examples of specific animal behaviors and personalities and then provides a list of how to best interact with and train certain behaviors according to personalities.  She devotes chapters to “Animal Feelings,” “Animal Aggression,” “Pain and Suffering,” and “How Animals think” as well as “Animal Genius: Extreme Talents.”

While Animals in Translation is very academic and cerebral, the applications of Grandin’s experiences are hands on and practical.  I would recommend this work to anyone with animals — or anyone who finds the brain fascinating!

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Sunday Salon: Animals in Translation Review