How to Marry a Mensch:
The Love Coach's Guide
to Finding Your Mate
by Robin Gorman Newman

Wikipedia translates the Yiddish word "mensch" to "a person of integrity and honor." Author Newman extends that a little and describes a mensch as "the all-around nice guy that Jewish grandmothers recommend."

She claims that every woman would like to marry a mensch but needs to know how to find them first. The book is intended to help women find mensches to marry.

The premise of working to find a good spouse is sound. Women spend serious resources on schools, careers and extracurricular but often let the most important decision - a spouse - to the winds of fate or maybe a fix up from a friend or an online dating service.

As a self-described "Love Coach" Newman says you should be "socially strategic" and act like you want to marry a mensch, not just think about it. The book is full of case studies, exercises (Would you date yourself?), tests, words of wisdom and other fun items.

She says that while you may want to be on Cloud 9 with a perfect 10, maybe being on Cloud 8 is not so bad. Be positive but realistic.

The chapter on creating a mensch meeting plan offers travel and internet dating advice. But you have to keep the pressure off. "Remember", she says, "dating is not a job interview. Don't ask for a résumé."

The ten step program for "Menschmating" that ends the book ends with Step #10 - Don't settle for less than a mensch.

You probably won't find any revolutionary ideas in How to Marry a Mensch: The Love Coach's Guide to Finding Your Mate that will have you marching down the aisle next week with the mensch of your dream but the case studies and witty yet practical advice are fun to read and may give you some new perspective.