Coming 26 January 2027

The Solo Shelf

What the popular books on living alone, solo travel, ageing alone and retiring single get right, checked against the records, from New York to Tokyo.

The Solo Shelf applies the method of The Money Shelf to the books written for people who live alone. Each claim is set against the official records: census offices, statistics bureaus, actuaries, consumer regulators and researchers in the United States, Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, India and Southeast Asia.

The parts

1. Money. The single tax: housing, bills and insurance paid by one person.
2. Home. Food for one, small appliances, safety and the "if something happens to me" file.
3. Out in the world. Solo travel, dining out, work and friendship.
4. Company. Friends, pets and AI companions, judged on evidence.
5. Ageing and retiring single. What actuaries and researchers find about solo agers.
6. Five countries, five ways of living alone. China, Japan, South Korea, India and Southeast Asia, each through its own institutions and writers.