"Intriguing look at why we love"

This intriguing look at why we love responds to that question and more such as when we fall out of love and implies why cheating on one's love occurs. Using survey techniques applied globally and scrutinizing available governmental records to gather information and evaluate research data on human behavior, behavioral anthropologist Helen Fisher insists that romantic behavior is caused by two crucial chemicals produced by the brain. When a person falls in love, the brain generates major increases of energy that leads to positive and negative reactions such as passion, elation, obsession, and jealousy. Most interesting is the thesis on love amongst prehistorical mankind that insists that "four-year birth intervals were the regular pattern of birth spacing during our long human prehistory". The author insists this has been wired into our modern brains to remain monogamous for four years. World wide data shows that a higher than normal divorce rate occurs during the fourth year of marriage especially when one child has been born.

This is more than just a scientific look at love. Instead Dr. Fisher provides an intriguing argument on WHY WE LOVE and why we fall out of love. Though the emphasis is chemical and data oriented, Dr. Fisher also provides tips to stay in love that includes focusing on the positive emotions. Fascinating well written as a reference tome that provides insight yet the easy to read WHY WE LOVE: THE NATURE AND FUTURE OF ROMANTIC LOVE is fun to follow.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted February 25, 2004

Summary

A groundbreaking exploration of our most complex and mysterious emotion Elation, 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.