Synopses & Reviews
A groundbreaking exploration of our most complex and mysterious emotionElation, mood swings, sleeplessness, and obsession—these are the tell-tale signs of someone in the throes of romantic passion. In this revealing new book, renowned anthropologist Helen Fisher explains why this experience—which cuts across time, geography, and gender—is a force as powerful as the need for food or sleep.
Why We Love begins by presenting the results of a scientific study in which Fisher scanned the brains of people who had just fallen madly in love. She proves, at last, what researchers had only suspected: when you fall in love, primordial areas of the brain “light up” with increased blood flow, creating romantic passion. Fisher uses this new research to show exactly what you experience when you fall in love, why you choose one person rather than another, and how romantic love affects your sex drive and your feelings of attachment to a partner. She argues that all animals feel romantic attraction, that love at first sight comes out of nature, and that human romance evolved for crucial reasons of survival. Lastly, she offers concrete suggestions on how to control this ancient passion, and she optimistically explores the future of romantic love in our chaotic modern world.
Provocative, enlightening, and persuasive, Why We Love offers radical new answers to the age-old question of what love is and thus provides invaluable new insights into keeping love alive.
Review
"[A] provocative examination of love....[T]hough she's certain that chemicals are at love's heart, Fisher never loses her sense of the emotion's power or poetry." Publishers Weekly
Review
"If you want to understand this central quality of human nature to its roots, read Why We Love." Edward O. Wilson, author of Consilience
Review
"[T]he most gripping and scientifically sound book yet written about this most bafflingly complex human experience." David M. Buss, author of The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating
Synopsis
A ground breaking exploration of the most complex and mysterious emotion. In this revealing new book, renowned anthropologist Fisher explains why love which cuts across time, geography, and gender is a force as powerful as the need for food or sleep.
Synopsis
"If you want flashes and particular experiences of romantic love, read novels. If you want to understand this central quality of human nature to its roots, read Why We Love." —Edward O. Wilson
In Why We Love, renowned anthropologist Helen Fisher offers a new map of the phenomenon of love—from its origins in the brain to the thrilling havoc it creates in our bodies and behavior. Working with a team of scientists to scan the brains of people who had just fallen madly in love, Fisher proved what psychologists had until recently only suspected: when you fall in love, specific areas of the brain "light up" with increased blood flow. This sweeping new book uses this data to argue that romantic passion is hardwired into our brains by millions of years of evolution. It is not an emotion; it is a drive as powerful as hunger.
Provocative, enlightening, engaging, and persuasive, Why We Love offers radical new answers to age-old questions: what love is, who we love—and how to keep love alive.
Synopsis
Philosophy, economics, and biology have rarely been so entertaining.” Matt Ridley, author of
Genome
Paul J. Zaks proclivity for taking blood samples has earned him a nickname as the vampire economist.” But his sanguinary habit is backed by his scientic quest: What if there was a master switch for human behavior? On, and people are loving and generous. Off , and they revert to violence and greed. By studying thousands of blood samples, Zak has pinpointed just such a switch: a brain chemical called oxytocin. Sprinting around the globe and into the human brain,The Moral Molecule is a dazzling narrative as erudite and entertaining as bestsellers like Flow, Drive, and Why We Love.
About the Author
Helen Fisher, Ph.D., is one of this countrys most prominent anthropologists. Prior to becoming a research professor at Rutgers University, she was a research associate at Manhattans American Museum of Natural History. Fisher has conducted extensive research on the evolution, expression, and science of love, and her two most recent books,
The First Sex and
The Anatomy of Love, were
New York Times Notable Books. She lives in New York City.