For significant milestones, significant books: first, Our Bodies, Ourselves, then What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and now, Is it Hot in Here? Or is it me? The Complete Guide to Menopause. Written with an uncompromising intelligence and wit by two award-winning Newsweek journalists, Is it Hot in Here? Or is it me? is the essential, comprehensive, up-to-the-minute, deeply optimistic book for the millions of women in their forties-to-sixties.

The menopause transition—so often mysterious—varies greatly from woman to woman. Finally, here is the one book that makes the full scope of it accessible and understood. It covers the role of hormones and the controversy over hormone therapy. The truth about hot flashes . . . and how to deal with one in the middle of a meeting. A top-to-bottom assessment of the aches, pains, and assorted ills that can afflict menopausal women. The impact on sexuality, and how to counteract that wavering libido. (Yes, it’s possible to buy a sex toy without the neighbors—or the children— finding out.) There are chapters on memory (how to protect it), moods (how to ride them out), and sleep (how to get it). And then an entire section on using this period as a springboard to staying healthy, feeling great, and looking beautiful for the next act in your life. A complete approach to losing middle-age weight (and tips on finding jeans that will make you look as if you’ve had a tummy tuck). The essential exercises to keep bones strong. Dealing with dry skin and thinning hair. Habits (and recipes) to begin to encourage heart health now.