Defago has an interesting way of presenting the socially misunderstood decision of being without children. The chapters speak for themselves and are laced with statistics and stories taken from a variety of sources, including World Population Awareness, a number of well-known UK government entities, and surveys from books and magazines.

Most interesting to me were the chapters on childfree stigma, honest parents, and what you won’t be missing out on. It’s clear that the author is not of the mind that having children is simply a biological decision or one that is to be taken as a given. This is a refreshing opinion, and as the book seems to surmise, an unpopular one.

Research seems to support that, ecologically speaking, it is unwise to overpopulate our planet. At last look, the environmentalists are being ignored and overpopulation continues unchecked, at least in countries like the U.K. and the U.S. Equally alarming is the research that supports a return (through a choice of well-educated women) to the view that men are providers and women are caretakers of offspring whose occupations will come secondary after children are had.

Um, no. Defago continually supports her disillusionment with the current belief that being childfree is taboo with well-researched documentation and personal vignettes. This is a solid and thought-provoking read that is not for the timid.