Barbara Feldon

Feldon writes about herself, her struggles with learning to live alone and learning to live her own life. This book shows her journey from being someone who wants to be "saved" and "taken care of,", to someone who stands on her own two feet and takes care of herself. She is right on the money about economics, that to live an autonomous life, one must be financially solvent. Unfortunately, many do not have the means, the knowledge, or the foresight to do this, yet, it is the truth. She firmly instructs the reader (as done to her by a friend) to learn everything about the financial world and to take charge of her own money and financial future. The chapter on possessions was interesting, as I am currently downsizing my own - Feldon loves space and is not the knickknacks type of girl. Clearly her focus is on art, music, travel, friends, and experiences. Feldon also admonishes the reader to take her social life in hand; that is, don't wait for others to come to you, but go to them and try to make things happen. A social network of friends, family, service people, strangers, tourists, etc., can lead to a socially full life, one that is more than it could be when being someone's "better half." She observes that her life was more limited in a variety of ways when she was in a relationship, and I believe this is true for many men and women. Feldon's choices will not be mine, but I appreciate the book's spirit, and I selected ideas that will help me as a solo woman to develop an interesting and comfortable single life.… (meer)