Customer Reviews

A Natural History Of Love

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Lorenz Hart wrote, "I wish I were in love again." "Let's do it, let's fall in love," advised Cole Porter. No other subject has inspired as many songs, poems, books or plays as ever appealing, sometimes elusive love. And here is Diane Ackerman to tell us all about it.

"Love is the great intangible" is the way this volume begins, and it is equally unfathomable after we finish reading, but there's much information and great good fun in between. Beginning with the history of love in ancient Egypt through Rome, the Middle Ages and up to the present, the author explores the historical, cultural and biological roots of that which makes the world go round.

Rich with insights into traditions and little known facts, "Love's Customs" may well be one of the most fascinating chapters. For instance, it was the medieval Italians who favored diamond rings because "of their superstition that diamonds were created from the flames of love." Soldiers of ancient Sparta hosted the first stag parties. The white wedding dress was first won by Anne of Brittany in 1499 when she married Louis XII of France. Both bride and groom wore a blue band around the bottom of their wedding garments in biblical times, which is where the idea of the bride's "something blue" originated.

"A Natural History of Love" is a rare literary work in that it is both a well researched scholarly text, terrific reading, and offers an insight that probably applies to each one of us.

- Gail Cooke

"We have the great fortune to live on a planet abounding with humans, plants, and animals," poet Diane Ackerman (A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES, 1990), writes in her Introduction to this book; "and I often marvel at the strange tasks evolution sets them. Of all the errands life seems to be running, of all the mysteries that enchant us, love is my favorite" (p. xxiii). Once again demonstrating her talent for blending the disciplines of history, anthropology, psychology, literature and natural science, Ackerman turns her attention here to the subject of love, "the great intangible" (p. xvii). In counting the ways of the heart, she reveals through a historical survey of Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, and Modern times that our attitudes about love are truly as old as the pyramids, and she also examines the evolution, psychology, and chemistry of love, the differences between men and women when it comes to love, monogamy and adultery, love-thwarted attachments, and aphrodisiacs and eroticism. While it may not live up to the standard Ackerman set in A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES, in addressing what it means to love from a variety of different perspectives, this book is nevertheless quite fascinating.

G. Merritt

This book is amazing. If you haven't read Ackerman before, I suggest starting with _A Natural History of the Senses_. Then read this book. Ackerman is a very talented writer. Even if the subject isn't entirely interesting, her words and their rhythms are. This subject, however, is very interesting. Ackerman muses on myths (such as Dido) and history (such as Napoleon and Josephine), but also explores instincts and preferences (why women love horses and the influence of pheromones). This book is romantic, historical, sexual, poetic, challenging, and completely beautiful.

I first heard Diane Ackerman talking about this book on an NPR talkshow. I was so impressed that I went out and bought a copy that day. I was not disappointed. Ackerman's human, non-academic yet poetic style is immediately accessible and almost hynotic at times. Coupled with an interesting, universal subject matter, it makes this a book worth reading and reading again. Closing this book is, in many ways, like closing the door on a love affair: you wish it wouldn't end, but you have fond memories. The plus with this book is that you can do it all over again, and again, and again.

I read this to be entertained, and I was. Like her other books, this one was clearly written, easy on the eyes, clever, witty, and packed with interesting out-of-the-way information. It's a pleasant and well-composed discourse through the history of romantic love in the West. If you come to it from that point of view, you might like it.

If a criterion of a good read is that the author inspires in you some of the emotions she describes, then most of the book succeeded for me: at times I wondered what she'd be like on a date....

Parts of the book get into human instincts. While there's evidence for these--the rooting instinct in babies, for instance--we need to bear in mind that human instincts are heavily modified by time, place, and personality. The maternal instinct, for example, is painted in ideal colors: the loving mother mirroring her baby. We've all seen that; but some of us have also met mothers who hate their children (or, worse, feel indifferent toward them) and whose maternal instinct never sees the daylight. We shouldn't follow Freud's old 19th Century slippage from psychology into biology unless we're prepared to ignore the social and spiritual roots of human motivation.

I appreciate the author's knack for collecting a lot of information on a given topic, then giving us the best fruits of her learnings in breezy and often poetic language.

Diane Ackerman has written many interesting books and this one is especially well researched. She begins the book with stories of Egypt and Cleopatra and then explores the topic of Medieval Knights and the truth about courtly love. She illustrates her points lavishly and unlike many of her other books, she stays close to her main topic with minimal diversions. Although when discussing Freud she can't help herself and she seems to feel compelled to tell his whole life story. The story of Abelard and Heloise is sad but well told. Diane sheds light on many of the famous love stories of the past.

In the first half of the book she deals mostly with romantic love and then she takes various journeys into specific types of love. The love of cars, horses and flying is interesting but she reaches her most poetic explanations when she talks about kissing. There is also interesting information on courtship, marriage, religious love, men and mermaids, the evolution of the face, divorce, aphrodisiacs and modern love.

This book will intrigue you if you enjoy knowing interesting facts, like the origin of the wedding dress or why an X symbolizes a kiss. This book also has some good information on oxytocin and phenylethylamine. Diane Ackerman also gives insight into mental illness when she says: "The mentally ill are people who cannot regulate the conflicting emotions they feel." Since I believe in creation I did get weary of the constant references to evolution, however the book is worth reading no matter what you believe.

~The Rebecca Review

Diane Ackerman, with her characteristic aplomb and eloquence, provides a captivating overview of how human society has viewed love through the course of history. This book is particularly well-written, and the topic it addresses is likely of interest to virtually anyone. At Amazon.com prices, and for those who love to read, this book is a must.

A Natural History of Love is just that. A wonderfull collection of the past 3000 years of love. The interesting parts of this book are sometimes what you will learn about historical figures that you have read about in thier profession, but not in thier private life. The author is very well educated, and her education, flair, and soul is put into her writing. This book is for any history lover, or for any lover in general

This book is not only a natural history of love, but also an important look at the psychological development of Western man. Ackerman doesn't really delve into Eastern or tribal love rites (only briefly and then simply by conjecture at the beginning). She does go in depth into the phenomina of Courtly Love. I particularly enjoyed a few Greek and Egyptian love poems written thousands of years ago. It makes one realize that even though technology advances, empires rise and fall, the fundimental nature or human psyche---particularly in regards to love, is a classic and timeless pursuit. This book made me want to love more deeply.

While I found this book to be very informative, I think that the title can be misleading.
I'll explain. When I saw "Natural History of Love" I expected a treatise on all the forms of loving known to us: We have brotherly love, love towards the parents and love towards the sons and daughters, the love of God, the love of oneself, the love for an ideal and, of course, love between men and women which is the motor of our permanence as a species in this world.

The thing is, this study made by Diane Ackerman is complete in terms of exploring the romantic/erotic phase of love (generally heterosexual) but it fails to expose the other types that I already mentioned. So my advise is: get this book if you want to deepen into the historical and psychological nature of that Saint Valentine's sort of feeling. But if you want to go deeper into the topic, please read ERICH FROMM's "THE ART OF LOVING". You won't be disappointed.