Chaucer’s Books will host local author Bella DePaulo for a book talk and signing of her latest title “Single at Heart: The Power, Freedom, and Heart-Filling Joy of Single Life” 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 3321 State St., Santa Barbara.

In “Single at Heart: The Power, Freedom, and Heart-Filling Joy of Single Life,” social scientist DePaulo, who is an expert on single life, offers groundbreaking, comprehensive confirmation that a powerful, healthy, happy life is possible not in spite of being single, but because of it.

Society often issues dire warnings about the risks of living single, but is finding a spouse or romantic partner really a requirement for a full life?

DePaulo speaks on behalf of the millions of people worldwide who are drawn to single life for all it has to offer and shares what it means to not just be happy being single for a time, but to be happy being single always.

DePaulo — a Harvard-educated professor and researcher whose Ted Talk on the appeal of staying single has had more that 1.6 million views — supports readers of all genders, ages and backgrounds who are “Single at Heart,” and advises on topics as diverse as solitude, freedom, intimacy, children, and societal pressure.

In “Single at Heart,” DePaulo shares what she’s learned about being single, as well as the stories of others, in the process inspiring and fueling a movement of people standing up for what is right for them and thriving because of it.