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chloj_805's review against another edition
2.0
Unexpectedly heavy (like 95%) on apes. Some bonkers interpretation of survey data and digital trends, plus an anti-antidepressant rant at the end. Really sunk cost fallacied my way through this one!
kitkat962's review against another edition
4.0
I appreciate how much data and information Fisher has accumulated over her years of researches, and her ability to put into simple words everyone understands. It is, indeed, a history book, as she mainly dove into our past history of mating and marriage. A great deal of this book is spent on the mating behavior of other primates, our homo ancestors and native tribe worldwide. The evolutionary explanation and resemblance between human and other species seemed plausible as it served her points, but most of the references are quite dated. Nevertheless, her data consisting of thousands of responses over the year, including all types of sexuality, are truly impressive.
I don't think I would re-read this book soon, but overall, I felt the author did a great job of translating science work to public literature.
I don't think I would re-read this book soon, but overall, I felt the author did a great job of translating science work to public literature.
libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition
2.0
Other than a few concrete monkey facts and divorce rate stats, this book is speculative storytelling all the way through. Fisher spins some elaborate yarns about sex and gender roles in early humans based on "data" like a few tools found on a riverbank, serious theorizing presented like facts. Furthermore, the evolutionary gender roles she attributes to estrogen and testosterone are absurd and unsupported by anything concrete, but she fights for them through many chapters.
rbogue's review against another edition
It started simple enough. I wanted to explain to a friend who was struggling how there were different kinds of love. The problem is that I couldn’t figure out how to get to the right words. I knew that there were different kinds and different expressions of love, but I just couldn’t find the words. On the recommendation of a friend, I picked up Helen Fisher’s work, Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray. Buried in the middle of the work was the important answer I needed, but surrounding it was a rich study of how love works. Drawing from anthropology and neurology, Fisher explains possible answers as to why humans bond in the first place and why those bonds seem to break too easily.
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readingforfunsies's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
periparaparasakura's review against another edition
She writes without soul, like an AI filled with anecdotes that had no character or personal input.
hope2023's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
An interesting anthropological survey of mating and relationship habits charting to modern times. Dr. Fisher presents a fascinating chronology and includes interesting tidbits of fresh information that were a revelation. I thought she summed up her findings well.