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

What a great read for anyone who wants to learn more about our society.  I will definitely be able to use at least the first few chapters for my class in the Graduate School on the development of community, or should I say how community is now developing!  The book is Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone by Eric Klinenberg, who is an NYU faculty member (Oh yeah!) who gets a grant from the Robert Wood Foundation to study the movement of singletons (I had no idea this was an actual group).  As you read the book, you realize that our society has changed so much from the days of community – where families grew up in a cramped home – and now, not so much. This is a huge swing in how people in the US and much of Europe are now choosing another way of living.   In the 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.  The book actually builds on much of what Robert Putnam describes in his book Bowling Alone, but in this read Klinenberg focuses on the individual, whereas Putnam provides data from civic engagement and organizations.  Klinenberg uses individual interviews from all ages to meet “singletons,” those who live alone.  People marry later, and when it is time to die, we end up alone (as our spouses die) and we don’t want to live with our children, much different from a few decades ago.  Klinenberg’s rich data is from the voice of the individual and he learns why the solo living arrangement is desirable.  This is particularly compelling for children with parents reaching the ages of 70 and beyond… the stories will really awaken you to what you will need to think through over the next few years as parents age.  I do wish I was in Sweden though, as they really know how to take care of their elder citizens.  Obviously this is difficult for college and university residence life programs, as noted by the Director of Housing at University of Miami, where their students can’t get enough single rooms.  This is in-depth research (about how the singletons feel and why they choose to be alone) and worth ALL people to read, not only college professors.  Makes me want to do this kind of research myself.  Come on Robert Wood Foundation, give me a call!  Worth a read for sure!