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How much control do we have over love? Much less than we like to think. All that mystery, all that poetry, all those complex behaviors surrounding human bonding leading to the most life-changing decisions we’ll ever make, are unconsciously driven by a few molecules in our brains. How does love begin? How can two strangers come to the conclusion that it would not only be pleasant to share their lives, but that they must share them? How can a man say he loves his wife, yet still cheat on her? Why do others stay in relationships even after the romance fades? How is it possible to fall in love with the “wrong” person? How do people come to have a “type”? Physical attraction, jealousy, infidelity, mother-infant bonding—all the behaviors that so often leave us befuddled—are now being teased out of the fog of mystery thanks to today’s social neuroscience. Larry Young, one of the world’s leading experts in the field, and journalist Brian Alexander explain how those findings apply to you. Drawing on real human stories and research from labs around the world, The Chemistry Between Us is a bold attempt to create a “grand unified theory” of love. Some of the mind-blowing insights include:
Introduction 1
1 Building a Sexual Brain 7
2 The Chemistry of Desire 33
3 The Power of Appetite 58
4 The Mommy Circuit 90
5 Be My Baby 124
6 Be My Territory 154
7 Addicted to Love 185
8 The Infidelity Paradox 210
9 Rewriting the Story of Love? 239
Acknowledgments 265
Bibliography 267
Index 301
popscipopulizer
Posted September 22, 2012
*A full executive summary of this book will be available at newbooksinbrief . wordpress . com, on or before Monday, October 1. Love and sex play a central role in the human drama. But when we talk about the emotions and decisions that we make in connection with these things, we mostly remain strictly at the macro level, referring to people, and relationships, and our freely made choices. However, in their new book 'The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex and the Science of Attraction' social neuroscientist Larry Young and journalist Brian Alexander contend that our biology and chemistry play a much bigger role in love and sex than most of us ever acknowledge. Young explores everything from gender identity (and sexual orientation), to romantic relationships (and parenting), to monogamy (and adultery), taking us inside our bodies to investigate the genes and hormones that influence our approach to love, sex and relationships. While the focus here is on us humans, the evidence comes not only from our own species but from a host of other animals that exhibit similar biology and behavior. As we might well expect from a book co-written by a scientist and a journalist, the work delves deep into the technicalities of the science that is discussed, while at the same time mixing in a large measure of anecdotes and humor. The result is a book that is scientifically sound, while at the same time being highly readable and entertaining. On the negative side, while the authors do touch on the evolutionary reasons behind the phenomenon and mechanisms that are discussed, a more developed exploration of this would have added greatly to our understanding of the material. A full executive summary of this book will be available at newbooksinbrief . wordpress . com, on or before Monday, October 1; a podcast discussion of the book will be available shortly thereafter.
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Overview
How much control do we have over love? Much less than we like to think. All that mystery, all that poetry, all those complex behaviors surrounding human bonding leading to the most life-changing decisions we’ll ever make, are unconsciously driven by a few molecules in our brains. How does love begin? How can two strangers come to the conclusion that it would not only be pleasant to share their lives, but that they must share them? How can a man say he loves his wife, yet still cheat on her? Why do others ...