A Book About Love

Lehrer (Proust Was a Neuroscientist) examines love guided by both personal experience and research studies in psychology. Not unlike C.S. Lewis once did in his The Four Loves, Lehrer organizes his discussion around different types of love. For example, one chapter discusses attachment theory, illustrating the importance between social interaction and relationships, whereas another introduces the Abraham Principle, the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Isaac's role as a provisional sacrifice, which reveals to Abraham how much he loves his son. Lehrer builds from the concept of sacrifice into an explanation of parental love, along with other observations such as attunement, which is how well one responds to the needs of others. Other sections delve into sexual passion; love in a religious context or for a higher power; memory and love; and the relationship between love and finding purpose in life. Lehrer introduces these ideas by interweaving personal anecdotes, past and present research studies, and salient stories from the lives of others, such as Viktor Frankl, Sharon Roszia, and William Griffith Wilson.