Knock Yourself Up: No Man? No Problem. A Tell-all Guide to Becoming a Single Mom

#39
Title: Knock Yourself Up: No Man? No Problem. A Tell-all Guide to Becoming a Single Mom
Author: Louise Sloan
Publisher:
Year: NYP
Genre: Sociology/self-help
350 pages in manuscript

I'm not going to review this manuscript until the book is in print, but will merely note here that I read it in manuscript form. More details as they are available.
10/19/07 Edit:
It's published!



Title: Knock Yourself Up: No Man? No Problem: A Tell-All Guide to Becoming a Single Mom 
Author: Louise Sloan
Publisher: Avery
Year: 2007
Genre: Sociology/self-help
304 pages

Sloan has done something difficult--she's written a breezy book about artificial insemination and single parenthood. Part self-help, part popular sociology, this book covers both the general how-to as well as the why; the latter (as well as the angst, the celebration, the what-will-my-mother-think?) is conveyed through Sloan's first-person account of her own attempts at single pregnancy and those of a number of other women.

The book is enjoyable even for those readers not interested in engaging in this process. How many of us know that much about how semen is delivered to your doorstep, for example? This is fun to discuss at parties. The target reader receives information that she is probably not getting from a more factual "how to" book, particularly about other women's decision making and experiences along the way. Sloan nicely balances "what is it?" with "what does it feel like?" Wisely, she does not make general pronouncements, but rather invites women with a range of experiences to say what it was for each of them.