The shelf

The popular books on living alone, ageing alone, travelling alone and cooking for one, from New York and London to Sydney, Berlin and Tokyo, and back to the first bestseller on the subject, in 1936. Each page sets the book's main claims against the records.

Living alone and single life

• All the Single Ladies, Rebecca Traister
• Going Solo, Eric Klinenberg
• Happy Ever After, Paul Dolan
• Happy Singlehood, Elyakim Kislev
• Single at Heart, Bella DePaulo
• Singled Out, Bella DePaulo
• Solo, Peter McGraw
• Spinster, Kate Bolick

Loneliness and solitude

• A Biography of Loneliness, Fay Bound Alberti
• How to Be Alone, Sara Maitland
• Loneliness, John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick
• Party of One, Anneli Rufus
• Solitude, Netta Weinstein, Heather Hansen and Thuy-vy Nguyen
• The Lonely American, Jacqueline Olds and Richard S. Schwartz
• The Lonely Century, Noreena Hertz
• Together, Vivek H. Murthy

Ageing alone

• Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers, Sara Zeff Geber
• Living the Life Unexpected, Jody Day
• Never Too Old to Get Rich, Kerry Hannon
• On My Own Two Feet, Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar
• Rich Woman, Kim Kiyosaki
• Smart Women Finish Rich, David Bach
• The Single Woman's Guide to Retirement, Jan Cullinane
• The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+, Suze Orman
• This Chair Rocks, Ashton Applewhite
• Who Will Take Care of Me When I'm Old?, Joy Loverde

Travelling alone

• Alone Time, Stephanie Rosenbloom
• The Solo Travel Handbook, Lonely Planet
• The Solo Traveler's Handbook, Janice Waugh

Cooking for one

• Serve Yourself, Joe Yonan
• The Pleasures of Cooking for One, Judith Jones

Pets, robots and AI companions

• Alone Together, Sherry Turkle
• Dog Is Love, Clive D. L. Wynne
• Made for Each Other, Meg Daley Olmert
• Reclaiming Conversation, Sherry Turkle
• Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat, Hal Herzog
• The Healing Power of Pets, Marty Becker
• The New Breed, Kate Darling
• Turned On, Kate Devlin

Britain

• Shiny Happy Singles, Lucy Meggeson
• Single, Nicola Slawson
• Singled Out, Virginia Nicholson
• The Unexpected Joy of Being Single, Catherine Gray

Australia

• One, Clare Payne
• She I Dare Not Name, Donna Ward
• The Art of Frugal Hedonism, Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb
• The Art of Living Alone and Loving It, Jane Mathews

Germany

• Allein, Daniel Schreiber
• Die Singuläre Frau, Katja Kullmann

Asia: Japan

• Fūfu to iu Tanin (Spouses, Strangers to Each Other), Akiko Shimoju
• Living Small and Cherishing Every Day from Age 58, Chocolat
• Ohitorisama no Rōgo (Living Alone in Old Age), Chizuko Ueno
• Zaitaku Hitori Shi no Susume (The Case for Dying Alone at Home), Chizuko Ueno

Asia: South Korea

• Aging Solo, Kim Hee-kyung
• Honjok, Francie Healey and Crystal Tai
• I Decided to Live as Me, Kim Soo-hyun
• On Living Alone: A Sociology of Solitary People, Noh Myung-woo

Asia: Taiwan

• Eventually Alone: Why Not Learn to Age Happily Alone First, Liu Hsiu-chih

Asia: India

• Single by Choice, Kalpana Sharma (editor)
• Status Single, Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

History of the shelf

• Live Alone and Like It, Marjorie Hillis
• The Lonely City, Olivia Laing