The Power of Female Friendship: How Your Circle of Friends Shapes Your Life [Paperback]

Paul Dobransky (Author), L. A. Stamford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 27, 2008

A compassionate, practical, and science-based guide to finding friends for life

Psychiatrist Paul Dobransky, author of The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love, once again looks to the brain, this time to examine the full range of female friendships. A recent study has shown that women have fewer friends than they used to. In the years after college and before children (and even after that), many women find that they have fewer friends, and new ones are harder to make. Taking his three-parts-of-the-brain theory, Dr. Dobransky breaks down the primal codes of friendship that many women aren’t even aware of and gives scientifically grounded advice for understanding how to be a better friend and how to cultivate new friendships. Women of all ages who are searching for deeper relationships or are trying to break free of a toxic friendship will find help and hope in this enlightening and prescriptive exploration of how the brain makes friends.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Psychiatrist Dobransky applies the formulaic approach of his first book, The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love, to a subject of which he can have no firsthand knowledge: why women need friends for health and happiness. Using the pedestrian prose of his coauthor, Dobransky shares what he calls the secret code of friendship: consistent, mutual, shared positive emotion. The author continues to state the obvious when he says that negative emotion and stress are friendship killers, and he advises his readers to build up their internal self-esteem so that they won't appear needy to others. Dobransky's basic thesis—that women need to make friends in order to belong—is equally simplistic, and a more nuanced version has been expressed elsewhere, such as in Deborah Tannen's You Just Don't Understand, a source that Dobransky refers to but doesn't include in his bibliography. The repetitive and overcomplicated diagrams that appear on almost every page add little to the author's message. (May)
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About the Author

Paul Dobransky, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, a former associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado, a national speaker, and business consultant. He has appeared on television numerous times and in a wide variety of print publications including USA Today, Marie Claire, and First for Women.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Plume (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452289432
• ISBN-13: 978-0452289437
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has been SO helpful!, June 3, 2008

By 

Hope - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Female Friendship: How Your Circle of Friends Shapes Your Life (Paperback)

After reading this book, I had such a greater understanding of all of the female relationships in my life! I have worked to improve the type of friend I am to people, and also understood why my friends act in certain ways. Once again, Dr. Paul has encouraged me to take hold of a very important area of my life and make it the best that it can be! Thank you so much!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly stimulating!, September 19, 2008

By 

G. Silva "Scratch Media Arts" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Power of Female Friendship: How Your Circle of Friends Shapes Your Life (Paperback)

A brilliant, original take on how friendships in specific, and relationships in general, work! A wealth of practical information--complex theories explained in layman's terms--for women and men!
And btw, don't listen to the PW review (above). Whoever wrote that petty, sexist tripe is off they're rocker! According to that reviewer, female friendships is "a subject of which he [Dr. Paul] can have no firsthand knowledge". Does that mean that men can have no insight into women? Perhaps that reviewer doesn't think black people should write about white people, or that gay people should write about straight people. How ignorant! Why Amazon even allowed such a so-called professional review written like that is beyond me.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consistent, mutual, shared positive emotional energy is where it's at., June 24, 2008

By 

Donald "E.J." (Memphis, Tunisia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Power of Female Friendship: How Your Circle of Friends Shapes Your Life (Paperback)

The lessons that Dr. Dobransky teaches in this book are priceless. He demonstrates a concise, scientific system which can be implemented by anybody, that will undoubtedly lead to a higher level of happiness and durable fulfillment in life. This book is a must read for serious students of the truth regarding the science of friendship.