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bee_cee's review
3.0
The content was interesting, but the format of having just copied out blog posts, etc. with links to other articles really bothered me by the end. I was reading a physical book, and wanted to know what she was referring to, and the link rather than a footnote or citation just seemed lazy. It works for an ebook format, but they should have updated the print book with appropriate citation information.
chramies's review
4.0
An eye-opening collection of essays mostly reprinted from blogs and websites (the author should really be given as De Paulo (Ed.) or De Paulo & others as she did not contribute all) on the subject of prejudice, much of it institutional, against single people, and also against people who do not have children. It is U.S. centred as you might expect given that most of the contributors are American, and it is also notable that most of the contributors are women - are men less concerned with the negatives of the single state? Despite prejudice against single men also existing (up to and including the assumption that we're violent criminals), single men don't seem to be taking on this responsibility - especially rare is the single man who will admit to being happily single. For some reason we're all supposed to want to be in a marriage or close partner relationship, although this is not the only way to contribute to society. Perhaps it's because of the centrality of parenting in our society (something that's addressed here as well, q.v.) and there are a lot more single mothers than single fathers (though there are some and it's heartening to see recent films and TV programmes addressing this issue in a good light).
But that as well as the US-centeredness of it are not criticisms of Dr DePaulo nor the book itself, more a statement of the current state of debate. There is very little discussion of these matters as a whole, after all, and Bella DePaulo has done much to start the dialogue.
But that as well as the US-centeredness of it are not criticisms of Dr DePaulo nor the book itself, more a statement of the current state of debate. There is very little discussion of these matters as a whole, after all, and Bella DePaulo has done much to start the dialogue.
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