My Life on the Swingset

Publisher's Summary

Starting with a first date with a couple of swingers; followed by working through social anxiety and shyness; recognizing the importance of touch in life; evolving feelings about love and expectations; having threesomes, orgies, and prostate orgasms; going through a divorce; and leveling up in life and sexuality.

For five years, Cooper S. Beckett has written for Life on the Swingset. The website was born out of the feeling that he'd learned enough in his whole year of swinging to tell other people how to live their nonmonogamous lives. His hubris can be seen from space. Here, he has collected personal essays, stories, erotica, and prescriptive how-tos into this memoir of his life, My Life on the Swingset.

He may be biased when it comes to swinging, polyamory, and other forms of ethical nonmonogamy (in fact, he most certainly is), but he doesn't sugarcoat it. He speaks honestly and earnestly about a unique way to live life, one that allows for sexual and loving growth and experimentation, a strong sense of community, and the ability to do what we all crave, whether we know it or not: to be honest with ourselves and others about what we want sexually. And out of life.

©2015 Cooper S. Beckett (P)2015 Cooper S. Beckett

Critic Reviews

"Cooper Beckett writes...with such honesty, wit, and charm.... He challenges the hard line between swinging and polyamory, tackles taboos with grace, and will make you rethink what you believe." (Tristan Taormino, author of Opening Up)

This book was exactly what I wanted

If you could sum up My Life on the Swingset in three words, what would they be?

Education through experiences

What did you like best about this story?

I like how Cooper analyzed his experiences and gave short and to-the-point thoughts on why or how things happened. It was a fantastic book for me because it gave some open and honest insight into this lifestyle. It was exactly what I was hoping for. Not smut, just honesty.

What about Cooper S. Beckett’s performance did you like?

Cooper's voice was very friendly and his tone was conversational. This made the book feel like friends sitting together talking.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I turned the book on every chance I had.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Wonderful Book!

Any additional comments?

I won this book in a giveaway on Twitter, and I was so excited because it had been on my list of books to read for a while. My Life on the Swingset is a wonderful collection of essays that give insight into both the world of ethical non-monogamy and the author's own experiences. I am glad I was able to listen to this book, and I am going to continue to listen to the podcasts. I would recommend this book to anybody with even a passing interest in non-monogamy.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A Great Tead

I heard about Cooper Beckett ' s book on a pod cast called, The Sexual Dark Age". And when he began to talk about it I was hoping that he would do an Audible version. So when he it finally happened I was excited! I had no problems listening to every word he said and he gives some good sage advice about what it's like to be Poly and in the lifestyle.

If you are thinking about entering the lifestyle and want to avoid the pitfalls and know what the lifestyle is all about. This is the book for you!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A Visceral Experience

If you are expecting an 8 hour version of Life on The Swingset, this isn't what you will find here. What Cooper writes in this book is better in most every way.

This is the life and experiences of a man who lays his soul bare in the most eloquent way I've seen. Cooper's narration and geeky Dickensian writing style makes having to pause for breaks agonizing. Cooper fills this book with his trials and tribulations, exultations and mental meanderings. It's fun. It's sad. At some points it's downright depressing. But it's also thought provoking and mentally liberating.

It was a great read, and I'm sure I'll listen to it again soon. Great work, Coop!

-Josh

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Thoroughly Entertained, Educated, and Enlightened

What did you love best about My Life on the Swingset?

That I smiled most of the way through and even laughed out loud a few times. Cooper is a knowledgeable, experienced, and honest guy and I am walking away with a lot more than I started with.

What did you like best about this story?

The humor and its presentation

Which scene was your favorite?

too many to cite.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

laughed out loud

Any additional comments?

very honest and open about his topics and I appreciate it!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

It's always a treat when the author reads for you.

Loved it. It's always a treat to hear the author read it. That way he\she gets to deliver it as it was intended. I love the Swingset Podcast. You need to check that out as well. What else can I say? If you're looking for information on non-monogomy, this guy has a lot of information. I love his sense of humor, his sense of, well, just his sense of himself. I highly recommend you read this book! Thank you Coop!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Got me thinking

I enjoy auditory storytelling very much, and enjoyed the book more in this way. The emotion in the reading made it more relatable to me.

I found the way Cooper spoke was a like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but for ethical non monogamy. In the sense that it was easy to follow and comical.

It also felt like the vagina monologues, brutally honest and sexually open. I feel this book of essays could be preformed well on stage and I’d love to see that.

Enjoyable! I would recommend it to friends

I would recommend this to friends with these particular curiosities or leanings. It might be a bit raw for others. I did like that he took you along his path of learning and awareness.

Very Enjoyable - but not the hate speech

I can See Your House from Here. (Camel - Band).

An informative and easy listen, amusing with many thoughts and essays that ring true. (this from a seasoned swing couple).

However, the fear and loathing shown to people who feel or think differently, outside his political & humanist camp, was disappointing. Seems whil extolling his own values & virtues of acceptance... comes across as being the least accepting and narrow minded ie. "I can't be a friend you unless you agree with my politics" .

Not everyone who buys this book is a choir member. While at the same time ("they" by his own words, not cheering him on ...), accept him, much as I do. As a moderate (non political), I am not in any extreme camp and prefer to remove all politics as a way to find the true measure - and pleasure - in others.

Unique and valuable first-person account

Cooper Beckett has chutzpah. No doubt about it.
This was an entertaining and valuable first-person account of Beckett's start in swinging, what he learned, how it affected his relationships.
It ends in a tantalising way -- with Beckett beginning to explore polyamory -- not just swinging, opening himself up to multiple loving relationships, not just multiple sexual relationships.
I liked how Beckett grows and changes during the journey.
I was slightly irritated with the guy's voice and accent, and his quasi-humorous asides, but I think that's part of Beckett's rough charm.
Sometimes he's not the most likeable character. But I'm impressed with his commitment to personal growth. Thanks for sharing your story so far, Mr Beckett.