Written in her characteristically breezy and humorous style, Dr. Ruth expertly explains the unique challanges and opportunities encountered with the onset of middle age, including issues of health, family, and career. Designed for both singles and couples, and employing numerous case studies, Conquering the Rapids of Life candidly offers solid, practical advice to help one cope with the physical and emotional changes associated with midlife.

Striking out on your own after a lifetime of living with your parents is equal parts exhilarating and intimidating, but most of all, it is awkward. There is so much that people expect you to know that no one ever bothered to tell you--stuff you actually need to know to avoid bankrupting yourself through overspending, poisoning yourself with bad cooking, or drowning in a rising tide of dirty dishes and unwashed laundry. But you don't have to learn all this the hard way. "Living On Your Own: The Complete Guide to Setting Up Your Money, Your Space and Your Life" is the cheat sheet to help you take your first steps into adulthood with confidence. Whether you're moving into a college dorm or into post-college life, "Living On Your Own" gives you money-, time-, and trouble-saving tips, shortcuts, and lifehacks to make your transition smoother. Covering everything from the basics of budgeting to home cooking on the cheap to how to not catch an STD, "Living On Your Own" is an invaluable road-map to early adulthood.

Committing to a long-term relationship is a big deal-especially if you have doubts. With a focus on common sense over emotion, world-renowned sex and relationship therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer offers straight-up advice on whether you should stick it out or cut your losses and move on. In Stay or Go, Dr. Ruth divides troubled couplings into three "flavors": Dark Toxic (run!), Rocky Road (rough patch ahead), and Merely Troubled (it's worth the effort). She knows relationships are rarely black and white-there's always the bad with the good-so here she helps you determine where the scales in your relationship are tipping. Delving into everything from communicating to financial stresses, parenting pressures to long-distance relationships, she helps you to understand your romantic expectations-reasonable and unreasonable-what you can do to save a relationship, and how and when you should say goodbye. And it all comes with the wit and wisdom that has made Dr. Ruth the one to turn to for putting your life together once and for all.

In 1980, when Dr. Ruth's New York radio show debuted, herpes has just hit the headlines. When the show went live a year later, many of the questions people asked her were about this surging sexually transmitted disease. A short while later, AIDS was making headlines and herpes was relegated to the media back burner. But while there's no denying that AIDS is a much more serious STD, herpes has done its share of damage and today it is estimated that nearly 60 million Americans are infected with this disease. What's more, there are over one million newly diagnosed cases of herpes each year. This book is not only for people who have just discovered they have herpes, but also for the millions of Americans who are living with herpes and want a game plan for talking about their disease with fellow herpes sufferers, loved ones, and potential lovers. Structured throughout the book, in addition to Dr. Ruth's no-nonsense advice, are quotes from people who are living with herpes that Dr. Ruth interviewed at length for this book. Each chapter concludes with a list of helpful pointers or highlights summarizing the main points discussed within that chapter. Dr. Ruth deals with the basics of herpes first - what it is, what kinds of herpes there are (HSV-1, which is responsible for cold sores, and HSV-2 which is responsible for genital herpes), how herpes can be transmitted, and walks you through the stages of infection (initial outbreak, latency period, and subsequent outbreaks). What makes herpes so transmittable is that 90% who are carrying the virus aren't even aware they are carrying it. Finally, Dr. Ruth explains how to prevent herpes transmission and the various kinds of herpes therapy available. Subsequent chapters offer helpful pointers on how to come to grips with herpes emotionally, and how to learn to take charge of your treatment, which can be difficult when faced with apathetic or misinformed doctors and a wealth of bogus or misleading information that people believe about herpes and herpes transmission. The centerpiece chapter of the book is "The Talk" in which Dr. Ruth walks you through the various hypothetical situations you are likely to encounter when you tell someone you have herpes (sympathy, confusion, anger, denial) and how to deal with each emotion by giving whomever you're talking to the appropriate kind of information they will need to deal with the news (herpes is contagious and incurable but not life threatening, condoms reduce but do not entirely eliminate the risk of transmission, etc.). Peppered throughout this chapter (as they are throughout the book) are quotes from people that Dr. Ruth interviewed for this book that have herpes and in this instance have actually had "the talk" themselves. These quotes offer a running commentary throughout the book that allow readers to balance the advice Dr. Ruth offers vs. how the situation actually plays out in real life (sometimes Dr. Ruth's advice plays out exactly as she predicts, but in some cases, her advice doesn't offer much help or solace, or actually improve the situation, and she is quick to point these inconsistencies out). Because this is a Dr. Ruth book, it wouldn't be complete without information on how to maintain a normal and active sex life while living with herpes. With today's suppressive therapies and medication, one can substantially reduce the chance of transmitting herpes to another person. Support groups also offer the opportunity to meet fellow people with herpes as well as offering a safe environment with which to meet new people to date. In addition to offering specific advice on how to deal with herpes when talking within specific groups and in specific situations (how to talk to your children about herpes, and how to talk about the disease if you're a senior, or gay), Dr. Ruth concludes the book with a lengthy chapter on additional STDs and explains how each one is caused or transmitted, and what you can do to protect yourself against each disease. Two helpful appendixes can be found at the back of the book, listing where to find a support group near you, as well as listing websites that offer supplemental information to what's listed in the book.