Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids edited by Meghan Daum

"The decision process itself has influenced me both personally and professionally in ways I couldn't have imagined, in ways beyond the issue of whether or not to become a mother. It led me to a stance I call the "Affirmative No." I define this stance as the refusal to pursue a course of action that, on serious reflection, you discover is not right for you." --Jeanne Safer in Beyond Beyond Motherhood

There are so many books on parenting out there (you probably know that I LOVE Bringing Up Bebe), but there are not so many books about the decision to not have children. In this collection, we hear from sixteen different writers on the decision to not have kids, their experience of not having children, and the cultural pressures of having kids. Overall, one of the themes that comes out is that there are many ways of being a productive, responsible, and happy adult and sometimes that includes raising kids and sometimes it doesn't.

Recommended to anyone in the process of deciding whether or not to have kids, and also to parents out there (who I doubt will read this, but please let me know if you do!) who would like to know what it's like on the other side of the fence.