Waubonsee Community College

A natural history of love, Diane Ackerman

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 338-344) and index

index present

non fiction

A natural history of love

bibliography

30537135

Diane Ackerman

"Following the triumphant success of her A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman has turned her formidable gifts to that greatest gift of all - the elusive, eternal, and endlessly interesting matter of love." "The result is pure Ackerman: a splendid, serious, scientific, poetic, playful, and lyrical "tour d'horizon" of love's many forms and faces." "Ackerman draws on a variety of sources, both classical and from her immediate experience. The historical, cultural, religious, and biological roots of love are all explored and illuminated. She gives a fresh new reading to Freud ("mapping the war zones of the heart"), Stendhal (love as fantasy), and Proust ("the erotics of waiting"), and draws lessons from lovers across time." "Her attention then moves to the physical - the chemistry, biology, and neurophysiology associated with love in the brain, mind, and body. She discusses the "evolution of the face," the cuddle, both as caress and as chemical, and the customs of marriage. There are astonishments everywhere. Her distinctive touch, aided by her personal adventures and explorations, enriches our understanding of women and horses, men and mermaids, sex and flying, and other equally enticing subjects." "The book begins: "Love is the great intangible." Diane Ackerman then proceeds to make it more tangible, traceable, breathable, and ... well, lovable."--Jacket

Contents (chapter titles only): Introduction: Love's vocabulary (p.xv) -- A long desire : the history of love -- Egypt (p.3) -- Greece (p.17) -- Rome (p.29) -- The Middle Ages (p.43) -- Modern days (p.66) -- The heart is a lonely hunter : ideas about love -- Plato : the perfect union (p.95) -- Stendhal meets the Deep South (p.99) -- Denis de Rougemont : love and magic (p.105) -- Marcel Proust and the erotics of waiting (p.112) -- Freud : the origins of desire (p.123) -- Attachment theory (p.131) -- All fires the fire : the nature of love -- The loving impaired (p.139) -- Brain-stem sonata : the neurophysiology of love (p.146) -- The evolution of love (p.150) -- The chemistry of love (p.159) -- Aphrodisiacs (p.169) -- A necessary passion : the erotics of love -- Fire from the flesh : why sex evolved (p.177)Contents (cont.): The face (p.181) -- The hair (p.190) -- Women and horses (p.196) -- Men and cars (p.217) -- The lightest longing : sex and flying (p.227) -- Wings over Africa (p.230) -- Men and mermaids (p.236) -- Sexual chic : perversion as fashion (p.241) -- Kissing (p.249) -- On the sensuality of looking (p.255) -- Passing strange and wonderful : love's customs -- Patterns in nature (p.259) -- The courtship (p.261) -- Flesh of my flesh : the marriage (p.267) -- Of cocks and cunts (p.277) -- Love on the edge : adultery, extravagant gestures, and crimes of passion (p.279) -- Points for a compass rose : varieties of love -- Altruism (p.289) -- For the love of children : interplast (p.292) -- For the love of strangers : Life and death in the South Seas (p.308) -- On religious love (p.314)Contents (cont.): On transference love (p.322) -- On the love of pets (p.326) -- Postscript : the museum (p.332) -- Selected bibliography (p.338) -- Index (p.345)