The Psychology of Love

Contents include: * Global Theories of Love * Taxonomy of Love (Murstein) * Love-Styles (Johna Alan Lee) * Love as Attachment: The Integration of Three Behavioral Systems (P. Shaver, C. Hazan) * Love Acts: Evolutionary Biology of Love (David Buss) * Triangulating Love (Robert Sternberg) * Can We Picture "Love"? (G. Levinger) * Fools for Love: The Romantic Ideal, Psychological Theory, and Addictive Love (S. Peele) * Theories of Romantic Love * Passionate and Companionate Love (E. Hatfield) * A Vision of Romantic Love (N. Branden) * Passionate Love (Sharon Brehm) * Romantic Love: Individual and Cultural Perspectives (Kenneth & Karen Dion) * Theories of Love and Relationship Maintenance * Maintaining Loving Relationships (D. Byrne & S. Murnin) * Love within Life (Wendy Williams & Michael Barnes) * Love in Marriage: A Cognitive Account (S. Beach & A. Tesser)

An elucidating summing-up of different current subjects in the psychology of love.

This book is a compilation of 16 academic papers discussing such things as love styles (types), compatibility, relationship maintenance and, well, all aspects of love! Varying ideas on intimacy, passion, and commitment and how they relate to the love relationship. These are academic papers, so expect them to be written to a college level audience (one of the toughest reads was also one of the best papers, in my opinion). Authors were mostly professors from top universities (e.g., Harvard, Yale, Brandeis, etc.), along with one psychotherapist. All papers are fully referenced. Also included, of course, is a full index for quick referencing. This was an exceptional look at love from a quantative (as well as qualitative) standpoint. As hard as it is to quantify something as touchy-feely as love, this book does quite the job. Anyone who desires an understanding of the dynamics of love would enjoy this book. I found it to be a pretty quick read and both interesting and informative.

This book is very informative on the exact subject matter, which is the psychology of love. They look at love from many different perspectives and look at all aspect's of love. Not only is this book informative but also interesting. The only thing that may come off as discouraging about this book is the vocabulary. Other wise, This book comes highly recommended by myself.