Labor of Love


Book Description

A brilliant and surprising investigation into why we date the way we do




Modern Romance


Book Description

The #1 New York Times Bestseller “An engaging look at the often head-scratching, frequently infuriating mating behaviors that shape our love lives.” —Refinery 29 A hilarious, thoughtful, and in-depth exploration of the pleasures and perils of modern romance from Aziz Ansari, the star of Master of None and one of this generation’s sharpest comedic voices At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated? Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?” But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate. For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Andrew Cherlin, Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before. In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.




How to Not Die Alone


Book Description

A “must-read” (The Washington Post) funny and practical guide to help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams. Have you ever looked around and wondered, “Why has everyone found love except me?” You’re not the only one. Great relationships don’t just appear in our lives—they’re the culmination of a series of decisions, including whom to date, how to end it with the wrong person, and when to commit to the right one. But our brains often get in the way. We make poor decisions, which thwart us on our quest to find lasting love. Drawing from years of research, behavioral scientist turned dating coach Logan Ury reveals the hidden forces that cause those mistakes. But awareness on its own doesn’t lead to results. You have to actually change your behavior. Ury shows you how. This “simple-to-use guide” (Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) focuses on a different decision in each chapter, incorporating insights from behavioral science, original research, and real-life stories. You’ll learn: -What’s holding you back in dating (and how to break the pattern) -What really matters in a long-term partner (and what really doesn’t) -How to overcome the perils of online dating (and make the apps work for you) -How to meet more people in real life (while doing activities you love) -How to make dates fun again (so they stop feeling like job interviews) -Why “the spark” is a myth (but you’ll find love anyway) This “data-driven” (Time), step-by-step guide to relationships, complete with hands-on exercises, is designed to transform your life. How to Not Die Alone will help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams.




True Love Dates


Book Description

It is possible to find true love through dating. In True Love Dates, Debra Fileta encourages singles not to "kiss dating goodbye" but instead to experience a season of dating as a way to find real love. Through powerful, real-life stories and Fileta's personal journey, this book offers profound insights from the expertise of a professional counselor. Christians are looking for answers to finding true love. They are disillusioned with the church that has provided little practical application in the area of love and relationships. They're bombarded by Christian books that shun dating, idolize courting, fixate on spirituality, and in the end, offer little real relationship help. True Love Dates provides honest help for dating by providing a guide into vital relationship essentials. Debra is a professional Christian counselor who reaches millions with her popular blog, Truelovedates.com, and her book offers sound advice grounded in Christian spirituality. She delivers insight, direction, and counsel when it comes to entering the world of dating and learning to do it right the first time around. Drawing on the stories and struggles of hundreds of young men and women who have pursued the search for true love, Fileta helps readers bypass unnecessary pain while focusing on the things that really matter in the world of dating.




Real Love in Dating


Book Description

"This Real Love stuff is amazing. It's completely changed the way I date. I wish I'd known about it years ago. Everybody needs to read about Real Love before they go on their next date." For most of us, dating is often confusing, frustrating, and frightening. We look for the "right person" in bars, at school, at parties, and on Internet dating sites. But what happens when we find the right partner? 60% of marriages end in divorce, and only 1-2% experience the fulfillment both partners once hoped for. We need much more than another way to meet people. We need to learn how to create the loving and richly rewarding relationships we all want. In Real Love in Dating, you'll learn: - What we all need most before we can be genuinely happy-Real Love - What we use as substitutes for Real Love, and how that destroys relationships - How we behave when we don't feel loved, and how that makes us miserable - How to find the Real Love that will guarantee lasting and rewarding relationships - How to find and become the perfect partner - How to build a great relationship and keep your perfect partner




Eight Dates


Book Description

Whether you’re newly together and eager to make it work or a longtime couple looking to strengthen and deepen your bond, Eight Dates offers a program of how, why, and when to have eight basic conversations with your partner that can result in a lifetime of love. “Happily ever after” is not by chance, it’s by choice– the choice each person in a relationship makes to remain open, remain curious, and, most of all, to keep talking to one another. From award-winning marriage researcher and bestselling author Dr. John Gottman and fellow researcher Julie Gottman, Eight Dates offers an ingenious and simple-to-implement approach to effective relationship communication. Here are the subjects that every serious couple should discuss: Trust. Family. Sex and intimacy. Dealing with conflict. Work and money. Dreams, and more. And here is how to talk about them—how to broach subjects that are difficult or embarrassing, how to be brave enough to say what you really feel. There are also suggestions for where and when to go on each date—book your favorite romantic restaurant for the Sex & Intimacy conversation (and maybe go to a yoga or dance class beforehand). There are questionnaires, innovative exercises, real-life case studies, and skills to master, including the Four Skills of Intimate Conversation and the Art of Listening. Because making love last is not about having a certain feeling—it’s about both of you being active and involved.




Love to Date-Date to Love


Book Description

Every woman is single at some point in her life, so why not enjoy it? Love to Date – Date to Love is a book written by a single woman for single women. The “hot dating tips” contained within really do work. You will learn how to figure out what you really want from dating and how to make it happen instead of waiting for that “handsome prince.” The other areas of our life require planning, care and effort, so why not dating? This approach is one of empowerment, but not without humor. Whether you are frustrated or wanting to improve your dating skills, this is the book for you. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of dating, you will learn how to become more comfortable meeting men, wherever you happen to be. You will discover ways to energize dating and actually have fun. Once you can overcome feelings of loneliness, or self-consciousness, you will be free to listen to what you want and to be relaxed and confident enough to achieve it. You will learn to make dating the fun adventure that you’ve always dreamed of.




Relationship Goals


Book Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A candid, inspiring guide to finding lasting love and sustaining a healthy relationship by getting real about your goals—based on the viral, multi-million-view sermon series about dating, marriage, and sex “No matter where you are and no matter what stage of life you are in, Relationship Goals will be a game changer.”—Levi Lusko NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY COSMOPOLITAN You scroll through photo after photo of happy couples and think, I want a relationship like that! The thing is, those intimate relationships are a mirage—the closer you get to them, the more you realize they aren’t real at all. So what does a real relationship look like? And how do you get there? In Relationship Goals, Pastor Michael Todd digs deep to give you good news and real-life ideas for making the most of your most important relationships. Take a look at • what it means to choose intentional dating over recreational dating • how to move on from mistakes you’ve made in the past • why love gets stronger after marriage • what the Bible has to say about sex (hot take: it’s more sizzling than you think) • why the best friendships have God at the center Whether you are married, single, or it’s complicated, aiming for the right targets will make all the difference in finding true satisfaction. As it turns out, God’s got the best relationship goals of all for your life. Why settle for less?




Deeper Dating


Book Description

With exercises, practical tools, and inspiring stories, Deeper Dating will guide you on a journey to find the love—and personal fulfillment—you long for Lose weight. Be confident. Keep your partner guessing. At the end of the day, this soulless approach to dating doesn't lead to love but to insecurity and desperation. In Deeper Dating, Ken Page presents a new path to love. Out of his decades of work as a psychotherapist and his own personal struggle to find love, Page teaches that the greatest magnet for real love lies in our "Core Gifts"—the places of our deepest sensitivity, longing, and passion. Deeper Dating guides us to discover our own Core Gifts and empowers us to express them with courage, generosity, and discrimination in our dating life. When we do this, something miraculous happens: we begin to attract people who love us for who we are, we become more self-assured and emotionally available, and we lose our taste for relationships that chip away at our self-esteem. Without losing a pound, changing our hairstyle, or buying a single new accessory, we find healthy love moving closer . . . Deeper Dating integrates the best of human intimacy theory with timeless spiritual truths and translates them into a practical, step-by-step process.




The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating


Book Description

For anyone who is dating or thinking about marriage, pastor and bestselling author Andy Stanley shares practical, uncensored wisdom on avoiding mistakes in the present to help you avoid regrets in the future. Single? Looking for the "right person"? Convinced that if you met the "right person" everything would turn out "right?" Think again. In The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating, Andy Stanley explores the challenges, assumptions, and pitfalls associated with dating in the twenty-first century. This guide takes a fresh approach to dating and love in the modern era by turning the search for "the one" back onto the searcher, challenging you to ask yourself tough questions like: Am I the person that the person I'm looking for is looking for? Are the Bible's teachings about women relevant today? If sex is only physical, why is the pain of sexual sin so deep? As you dig deep into Stanley's answers, you'll be equipped and empowered to step up and set a new standard for this generation by uncovering the things that create trouble in dating relationships and creating better habits now that will pay off later as you dive into married life. Praise for The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating: "No one speaks more powerfully and practically into the issues of dating and marriage in the twenty-first century than Andy Stanley. The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating is an exceptional resource for anyone seeking to navigate challenging relationship waters and survive in a culture that's confused and complex. Straightforward. Graceful. Truthful. Needed." --Louie Giglio, Passion City Church, Passion Conferences "Andy's new rules for love, sex, and dating are so wise, so compelling, so clear that I want every single friend I have to read this book, and I want to save a couple copies for my boys, so they can read it in a decade or so." --Shauna Niequist, author of I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet "Having experienced more than my fair share of destructive, harmful dating relationships, I can authoritatively say that Andy's views on the matter are clear and convicting. Andy so beautifully conveys the message of the unfathomable grace of God, leaving you free to turn a leaf and begin a new dating chapter, making better decisions and living with fewer regrets." —Maggie Bridges, Miss Georgia 2014