The Chemistry Between Us, Brian Alexander
The Chemistry Between Us, Brian Alexander
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The Chemistry Between Us
Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction

Author: Brian Alexander, Larry Young

Narrator: Sean Pratt

Unabridged: 11 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 10/09/2012


Synopsis

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:
Love can get such a grip on us because it is, literally, an addiction.
To a woman falling in love, a man is like her baby.
Why it’s false to say society makes gender, and how it’s possible to have the body of one gender and the brain of another.
Why some people are more likely to cheat than others.
Why we sometimes truly can’t resist temptation.

Young and Alexander place their revelations into historical, political, and social contexts. In the process, they touch on everything from gay marriage to why single-mother households might not be good for society. The Chemistry Between Us offers powerful in­sights into love, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and family life that will prove to be enlightening, controversial, and thought provoking.

About Brian Alexander

Brian Alexander has written about American culture for decades. A former contributing editor to Wired magazine, he has been recognized by Medill School of Journalism's John Bartlow Martin awards for public interest journalism, and by other organizations. He grew up in Lancaster, with a family history in the glass business. He lives in California. Brian is the author of Glass House.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Morgan

This book is a blast! It's laugh out loud, nurdy, raunchy fun. It's well written and researched and it's as informative as it is entertaining. If you end up reading it, be prepared to bug the shit out of your friends with all the neurosmut factoids you'll be (over) sharing with them during the comin......more

This book just explained my whole 20's. Oh, we are slaves to our chemistry. But that's cool. It's fun to hear about the studies that quantify social behavior we know (eg. girls are attracted to the bad boy) and explain why, exactly, hormonally, that is.......more

Goodreads review by Andrew

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day", or shall I compare you to my territorial possessions? Surely, attempting to reduce sex to biology and chemistry is a challenge, and attempting the same with love next to impossible, but these authors boldly attempt to do just that. As with similar attempts to......more