Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love

Description: Renowned anthropologist Helen Fisher offers a new map of the phenomenon of love--from its origins in the brain to the thrilling havoc it creates in one's body and behavior. This sweeping new book argues that romantic passion is hardwired into our brains by millions of years of evolution.

Brief description: Helen Fisher, Ph.D. (1945-2024) was one of this country's most prominent anthropologists. Prior to becoming a research professor at Rutgers University, she was a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Fisher conducted extensive research on the evolution, expression, and chemistry of love. She was the author of The First Sex, Why We Love, and The Anatomy of Love.

Review Quotes:

"Written in a deceptively simple manner, in language that is over nobody's head, Why We Love mixes [Fisher's] new research with prior scientific findings to build a thesis with startling ramifications."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Like the words of a talented lover, Fisher's prose is charming and engaging . . . In hands as skilled as Fisher's, scientific analysis of love only adds to its magic."
--Scientific American

"Fascinating . . . . An original and uniquely contemporary approach to a sensation that, for millennia, has been considered purely emotional."
--The Washington Post