Warning: This Book Could Disillusion Romantics

The Adventures of a Love Investigator: 527 Naked Men & One Woman should have a warning label on it. Barbara Silkstone, the fabulously funny author of The Secret Diary of Alice in Wonderland, Age 42 and Three-Quarters, set out on her own non-fiction adventure to interview 1,000 men in one year. After five years and only a little over half the men she intended, she surrendered. And who could blame her? The men she interviewed were brutally honest with her, if not with themselves.

Thanks in large part to the talents of the author rather than the subject matter, this is a fast and charming book. Ms. Silkstone’s keen eye for detail balances the words of her interviewees with the facts about the men’s appearances and tics. We meet plenty of frogs – warts and all – and a couple of princes. Unfortunately for the author, she ends up with a bad case of the TMI blues – no man will ever be taken at his word again.

And this is where the warning comes in: if you are in a happy relationship, you might want to avoid this book. As a happily married woman, I found myself questioning the devotion of a man who, both literally and figuratively, supports me. Sometimes it’s just better not to know exactly what the men in your life are really thinking.

To everyone else – especially the single women – READ THIS BOOK! It is enlightening, to say the least. Thank you, Ms. Silkstone, for sacrificing so many years to this amazing project. You are a folk heroine to me.