Fifty. And Nobody Warned You
The 50th Birthday Book for Men: what changed since you were born, what you can finally say, and room to write the rest
The pilot. For a man turning fifty: what a house and a week of work actually cost in each year he might have arrived, every figure traced to the Office for National Statistics, Nationwide or the Bank of England, and roughly a third of the book he is expected to write in himself.
Not out yet. This page exists so the work is visible while it is being made, which is more honest than a placeholder.
What is in it
- The years you could have been born, and what a house, a week of work and a pound actually cost in each of them.
- What has changed since, with the figures rather than the sighing.
- The honest bits about the age, written by somebody not pretending it is fine.
- Quizzes and things to argue about.
- Things you can now say and get away with.
- Around forty pages to fill in, which is the part that survives.
Formats and price
| Format | Price | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hardback | £18.99 | The gift version. Survives being kept. |
| Paperback | £12.99 | The one most people buy. |
| Ebook | £4.99 | Read it, but you cannot write in it. |
Where the material came from
The sourced tables in this book are published free on the site. If you only need a line for a card, take it from there and keep your money.
Part of Milestone Birthdays, an Home Truths series.
Frequently asked
- Who is the 50th birthday book for men for?
- It is written for the man having the birthday and bought by somebody else. In practice that is a grown child buying for a father, a partner, or a friend of the same age who has just had the same birthday and knows what it felt like.
- Is every fact in it sourced?
- Yes. Every house price comes from the Nationwide Building Society index, every wage from the Bank of England historical dataset and the Office for National Statistics, and every chart position from the Official Charts Company. The full list is printed in the back of the book.
- Why is the ebook the weakest version?
- Around forty pages of this book are meant to be written in by hand, and that is the part people still have ten years later. The ebook has the same words and none of the point.