A Book About Love

May 16, 2016
Controversial writer Lehrer, whose last two books Imagine (2012) and How We Decide (2009) were recalled in 2012 on the basis of fabrication and plagiarism claims later acknowledged by the author, draws from scientific study, literature, history, and pop culture to address the vast significance of love in modern Western society. The discussion includes the “limerence” of Romeo and Juliet, the effects of divorce on children viewed through the autobiographical fiction of John Updike, and the effects of parental love on human happiness and the ability to adapt later in life. Giving space to less-conventional angles, Lehrer includes thoughts on the “entanglement of love and religion” and the position of God as a parental stand-in. The most emotionally compelling chapter depicts perseverance using disparate sources, such as a psychologist who survived the Holocaust through his devotion to helping others, and another chapter analyzes the performance of new recruits at West Point to make a larger point about love and adversity. Lehrer also provides tactics for successfully overcoming heartbreak, backed by scientific research and inspired by essayist Michel de Montaigne’s love for and loss of his best friend. While Lehrer does not provide a wealth of original insight, he proves himself an able curator of information (thankfully with plenty of attribution this time around). Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency.

May 15, 2016
Journalist Lehrer addresses the power of human attachment.The author, two of whose earlier books were taken out of print for plagiarism and invention of quotations and who lost his job at the New Yorker as a result, avoids any such potential problems in a book that is as nebulous as its title suggests. Lehrer footnotes and cites sources constantly and scrupulously, with the result that the book looks more like an academic paper than a work of popular psychology. Unfortunately, he is so restrained and careful that he doesn't risk saying anything new. The author's main argument is that "love hold[s] us together, when everything else falls apart." The kind of love he praises is not the "fickle desire" of Romeo and Juliet but the steady bond that endures over time. "Love is the ultimate source of lasting pleasure," he writes, "but let's be honest: it's also the hardest work. That's why it takes grit." Lehrer chronicles his interviews with a few researchers, most notably "spry eighty-year-old" George Vaillant, who interviewed subjects of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a decadeslong examination of men who attended Harvard, and came to the conclusion that "Happiness equals love. Full stop." For the most part, however, Lehrer rehashes familiar territory, covering the experiments of early-20th-century psychologists John Watson and John Bowlby and scanning the novels of Jane Austen for their insights. In general, the author comes to the conclusion that the ability to love is based on attachments formed with parents in infancy and early childhood. In the longest sections of the book, he dutifully covers love for one's parents, one's spouse, one's children, and God. He tends to favor examples of love involving heterosexual couples with children. While the book adequately covers a good deal of research and systematically examines the rewards and challenges of intimacy, it doesn't make love sound like a whole lot of fun.

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August 1, 2016

Lehrer (Proust Was a Neuroscientist) examines love guided by both personal experience and research studies in psychology. Not unlike C.S. Lewis once did in his The Four Loves, Lehrer organizes his discussion around different types of love. For example, one chapter discusses attachment theory, illustrating the importance between social interaction and relationships, whereas another introduces the Abraham Principle, the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Isaac's role as a provisional sacrifice, which reveals to Abraham how much he loves his son. Lehrer builds from the concept of sacrifice into an explanation of parental love, along with other observations such as attunement, which is how well one responds to the needs of others. Other sections delve into sexual passion; love in a religious context or for a higher power; memory and love; and the relationship between love and finding purpose in life. Lehrer introduces these ideas by interweaving personal anecdotes, past and present research studies, and salient stories from the lives of others, such as Viktor Frankl, Sharon Roszia, and William Griffith Wilson. VERDICT Recommended for readers interested in pop psychology, particularly in the area of emotions and relationships.--Scott Vieira, Rice Univ. Lib., Houston

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