Books - Jed Ringel

stuck in the passing lane

The true story of a man using all the dating tools developed during his 23-year marriage to conduct live experiments on his newly-divorced, Baby Boomer heart.

From Russia to Spanish Harlem to New York’s Chinese immigrant community to Singapore, from a relationship with a member of Moscow’s “think tank” elite to a barely literate but vastly streetwise Chinatown massage parlor queen, this is the story of one man’s quest for a new “chemistry,” one that doesn’t, in just a matter of time, become relationship déjà vu.

Midwest Book Review

An absorbing, informative, and entertaining read from beginning to end, "Stuck in the Passing Lane: A Memoir" is strongly recommended for community and academic library American Biography collections.

Amazon Top 100 Reviewer

[I]f you can relate to this book as a mature dude dating again later in life, it's a real find. If you're a mature lady dating mature dudes and wondering what's going through their puny little brains, it's even more of a find.

Amazon Five Star Review

Jed Ringel is hilarious. In a way, he's a Holden Caulfield for our Baby-Boomer culture. Surely there’s nothing humorous about divorce. . . but Mr. Ringel' s recounting of his subsequent joys and tribulations as a "newly single" in the "where do I go from here" stages is vulnerable and touching--and yes, hilarious, because after all, despite all, he has survived the uproar.

Amazon Hall of Fame, Top 100 Reviewer

[S]tep back a bit and just think about how absurd the social media dating game is - not only promising to 'match you' but gobbling your money on a coin toss approach to make a fast buck in a business as busy as selling drugs or supplements or self help books. Then you can appreciate just how very fine a writer is Jed Ringel. He has pulled together all the madness of how we...interrelate...It is also VERY funny. A big hand for the author.

Bloggercriticsnetwork.com

[E]veryone with an online dating profile should read it. Go and buy this book now, especially – especially – if you are a woman. This is what waits for you on the other side of the pics and profiles.

Amazon Five Star Review

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author, recently divorced and faced with the challenges of starting a new life in middle age, bares his soul and his innermost thoughts as he navigates being on his own for the first time in over two decades. Well written, funny and at times quite poignant, Mr. Ringel humorously tells tale after tale from his new existence, with all its freedoms, trappings, and surprises. Always on the lookout for books that echo my own thoughts, this one hit home.

Excerpts from the book:

Sugarfilly

I’m in the last throes of carefully reviewing my Match profile, like you’re supposed to do with your SAT answers when you finish early. Read more

Cultural Evolution

I don’t know much about the person I’m meeting today, and what little I’ve learned places her so far from my experience that I don’t know what to expect. Read more

The Perfect Search

I’m boiling in my own oils in the hot tub behind the tract house I just hastily purchased. Read more

Growing Together, Me Old, Her Up

I’m entering Starbucks in SoHo, looking through a long line for a Chinese woman with whom I’ve had three short phone conversations that I’ve punctuated with lots of “uh-huhs,” the safest thing to say to someone whose English I mostly don’t get. Read more

White-Chinese Thanksgiving in Harlem

It’s Thanksgiving, and I’m standing on Lenox Avenue and 127th Street in Harlem with my twin daughters, Nori and Helena, waiting for Melanie and her two kids. Read more

Trying What the Experts Say

A New York Times article by someone called a research anthropologist makes me think that maybe I have to make adjustments in how I select women to date. Read more