Audiobook7 hours
A Book About Love
Written by Jonah Lehrer
Narrated by Jacques Roy
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
Number one bestselling science writer Jonah Lehrer explores the “only happiness that lasts”—love—in a book that “is interesting on nearly every page” (David Brooks, The New York Times Book Review).
Weaving together scientific studies from clinical psychologists, longitudinal studies of health and happiness, historical accounts and literary depictions, child-rearing manuals, and the language of online dating sites, Jonah Lehrer’s A Book About Love plumbs the most mysterious, most formative, most important impulse governing our lives.
Love confuses and compels us—and it can destroy and define us. It has inspired our greatest poetry, defined our societies and our beliefs, and governs our biology. From the way infants attach to their parents, to the way we fall in love with another person, to the way some find a love for God or their pets, to the way we remember and mourn love after it expires, this book focuses on research that attempts, even in glancing ways, to deal with the long-term and the everyday.
The most dangerous myth of love is that it’s easy, that we fall into the feeling and then the feeling takes care of itself. While we can easily measure the dopamine that causes the initial feelings of “falling” in love, the partnerships and devotions that last decades or longer remain a mystery. “Lehrer uses scores of detailed vignettes to traverse a complicated intellectual landscape, eventually arriving at modern theories of love…He is a talent” (USA TODAY), and A Book About Love decodes the set of skills necessary to cultivate a lifetime of love. Love, Lehrer argues, is not built solely on overwhelming passion, but, fascinatingly, on a set of skills to be cultivated over a lifetime.
Weaving together scientific studies from clinical psychologists, longitudinal studies of health and happiness, historical accounts and literary depictions, child-rearing manuals, and the language of online dating sites, Jonah Lehrer’s A Book About Love plumbs the most mysterious, most formative, most important impulse governing our lives.
Love confuses and compels us—and it can destroy and define us. It has inspired our greatest poetry, defined our societies and our beliefs, and governs our biology. From the way infants attach to their parents, to the way we fall in love with another person, to the way some find a love for God or their pets, to the way we remember and mourn love after it expires, this book focuses on research that attempts, even in glancing ways, to deal with the long-term and the everyday.
The most dangerous myth of love is that it’s easy, that we fall into the feeling and then the feeling takes care of itself. While we can easily measure the dopamine that causes the initial feelings of “falling” in love, the partnerships and devotions that last decades or longer remain a mystery. “Lehrer uses scores of detailed vignettes to traverse a complicated intellectual landscape, eventually arriving at modern theories of love…He is a talent” (USA TODAY), and A Book About Love decodes the set of skills necessary to cultivate a lifetime of love. Love, Lehrer argues, is not built solely on overwhelming passion, but, fascinatingly, on a set of skills to be cultivated over a lifetime.
Author
Jonah Lehrer
Jonah Lehrer is a writer, journalist, and the author of Mystery, A Book About Love, How We Decide, and Proust Was a Neuroscientist. He graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He’s written for The New Yorker, Nature, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Related to A Book About Love
Related audiobooks
The Uses of Delusion: Why It's Not Always Rational to Be Rational Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning from the Heart: Lessons on Living, Loving, and Listening Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A General Theory of Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Life Isn't for You: A Selfish Person's Guide to Being Selfless Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Kindness: Why Empathy Is Essential in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Strangers Meet Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Getting Relationships Right: How to Build Resilience and Thrive in Life, Love, and Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fierce Love: Creating a Love that Lasts---One Conversation at a Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Midlife: A Philosophical Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Him? Why Her?: Finding Real Love by Understanding Your Personality Type Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Friendship Formula: Add great friends, subtract enemies and multiply your happiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black-and-White Thinking: The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/530 Lessons for Loving: Advice from the Wisest Americans on Love, Relationships, and Marriage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/550 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weathering the Storms: Living with and Understanding Epilepsy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew: Understanding Our Need for Novelty and Change Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tell: The Little Clues That Reveal Big Truths About Who We Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Power of Ethics: How to Make Good Choices When Our Culture Is on the Edge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Husbands and Wives Club: A Year in the Life of a Couples Therapy Group Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Psychology For You
How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: An Indispensible Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Banish Your Inner Critic: Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt to Unleash Your Creativity and Do Your Best Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Meet Your Self: The Workbook for Self-Discovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Highly Sensitive Person in Love: Understanding and Managing Relationships When the World Overwhelms You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed For You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Small Talk: How to Have More Dynamic, Charismatic and Persuasive Conversations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory with the Most Powerful Methods in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Self-Compassion: A Practical Road Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for A Book About Love
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
1 rating0 reviews