Finding Your Perfect Match: 8 Keys to Finding Lasting Love Through True Compatibility

In her new book, "Finding the Perfect Match" , Dr. Pepper Schwartz, who helped put the "perfect" in Perfectmatch.com, brings three crucial attributes to the seemingly impossible task of helping people find and hold onto a mate worth having: intelligence, experience and a sense of humor. Building on more than 30 years of experience, not only doing her own research, but communicating the findings of several major areas of research and current thought to a wide variety of audiences, Dr. Schwartz lays out a means of first analyzing "what makes you tick" and then finding out what sort of other person is or is not likely to make a good fit with you. You don't want to be "the energizer bunny married to a sloth" any more than being a "glass-half-full" optimist married to someone always "raining on your parade". Dr. Schwartz uses a series of rather painless but probing questionnaires to lead the reader to an understanding of a series of eight major characteristics about yourself and any prospective partner you might currently, or sometime in the future, be considering as a mate. She then explains in readily digestible form, the meaning and implications of the answers to these questions and how they can guide you into making the best relationship decisions of your life - both in avoiding those painful mismatches that have driven you nuts in the past and in pursuing the one that just might finally put it all together for you. She waves no magic wands of course, and there are no written guarantees at the back of the book, but if you want to get a better sense of who you are and who you should be looking for out there, Dr. Schwartz lights the path exceedingly well while making the pitfalls a whole lot easier to see.

This is a book that I have found useful both at the personal and professional level. The author begins with a simple, but powerful proposition: you have to know yourself before you can have a lasting love relationship with someone else. Of course, that is a big task- maybe no one ever completely knows himself or herself. Still, additional insights are welcome as long as they really are new information and they help orient you towards the kind of person you should be with, and away from someone who ultimately will either disappoint you-- or vice versa. What I like here is that the book doesn't ask you, for example, if you are an extrovert or an introvert, but measures that personality type by seven well-chosen, and well-explained, questions. Sometimes the findings are unexpected-which could make you feel like the test was inaccurate--but instead, because all the measurements are explained, they're persuasive. I also like the last part of the book that helps you think about HOW important certain things are to you-- like money, sex, and values--among other things. I think those tests help you stay honest with yourself- which can be harder to do than it sounds. The book reads well, fast, and I think it has something to offer to those witha partner as well as those who are searching for one. I also think that, except for a few places, it would work for same-sex as well as opposite-sex relationships. It is fun to read- but its not lightweight. I would highly recommend it.

Pepper Schwartz's latest book is an important entry in the long-standing tradition that you can find a perfect match if you find someone whose personality is compatible with yours. She does this by adapting the well known Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator for people playing the dating game. This savvy, comprehensive, easy-to-read book will certainly help people know themselves better. A must read!

I haven't read much of Dr. Schwartz's work but having recently seen her on the Today Show I thought I'd give this book a quick read. I'm very glad I did. I learned more about myself and what it is that I need in a partner than I had ever known in the past. The format of the book is easy to follow and makes for a very quick read. Being in the your late 30's and single isn't easy and Pepper, through this book, has taken that fear right away from me. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to know a little bit more about themselves and who they might match up with.

Dr. Pepper usually writes for couples so this was a great book for me since I'm not in one! She really breaks down the how-to's of getting to know yourself and the person for whom you should be looking. It was also a lot of fun figuring out what types my exes were and why those relationships didn't work out.