Why We Love The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love

by Fisher, Helen

• ISBN13: 9780805077964
• ISBN10: 0805077960
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-02
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

"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, readWhy We Love." Edward O. Wilson InWhy We Love, renowned anthropologist Helen Fisher offers a new map of the phenomenon of lovefrom 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 Loveoffers radical new answers to age-old questions: what love is, who we loveand how to keep love alive.

Author Biography

Helen Fisher, Ph.D., is one of this country's most prominent anthropologists. Prior to becoming a research professor at Rutgers University, she was a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Fisher has conducted extensive research on the evolution, expression, and chemistry of love. Her two previous books, The First Sex and The Anatomy of Love, were New York Times Notable Books. She grew up in Connecticut and lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

To the Reader	xiii
``What Wild Ecstasy'': Being in Love	1	(25)
Animal Magnetism: Love among the Animals	26	(25)
Chemistry of Love: Scanning the Brain ``in Love''	51	(26)
Web of Love: Lust, Romance, and Attachment	77	(22)
``That First Fine Careless Rapture'': Who We Choose	99	(27)
Why We Love: The Evolution of Romantic Love	126	(27)
Lost Love: Rejection, Despair, and Rage	153	(28)
Taking Control of Passion: Making Romance Last	181	(28)
``The Madness of the Gods'': The Triumph of Love	209	(11)
Appendix	220	(17)
Notes	237	(20)
Bibliography	257	(30)
Acknowledgments	287	(2)
Index	289

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