Primal Love : Reclaiming Love With Passion (Cassettes) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Douglas Gillette (Author, Reader)

Book Description

Series: Cassettes | Publication Date: April 1995

Douglas Gillette shows us how to use our evolutionary past to solve our romantic mysteries of today. How the patterns of nature evolved in the past make our love lives both wonderfully joyful & miserably intolerable is the substance of a book that, like Hendrix' Getting The Love You Want, and John Gray's Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, creates a revolutionary vision of ourselves in passionate partnerships. 2 cassettes Abridged Read by Douglas Gillette

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gillette (The King Within), therapist and men's-movement facilitator, here takes the reader on an odyssey back to humans' ancestral origins to trace the evolutionary roots behind relationship troubles. Rather than being "neurotic," he argues, these problems stem from an imperfect fusing of the three levels of human primate development: jungle time, savannah time and civilization. According to Gillette, men and women differ because of their different "wiring" needed to promote survival prior to civilization. For example, during savannah time, women became more emotional and "dependent" to ensure men's protection of themselves and their unweaned young from grasslands predators. For men, the need for "variety" was necessary to ensure the impregnation of many females to expand the gene pool. Civilization has forced humans to suppress their animal desires, however, resulting in strife between the sexes. Using questionnaires and creative imagery, Gillette suggests that by accepting "the animal within," men and women can have more harmonious, exciting and sensual relationships while remaining "civilized."
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Going beyond those psychologists who consider the inner child a product of childhood wounding that should be considered in interpersonal relationship therapy, Gillette (King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, HarperCollins, 1990) argues that our inner child is at its deepest level a product of the evolution of the different primal sexual strategies of our genders. Relying on the research of evolutionary biologists, cultural anthropologists, clinical and depth psychologists, primate ethologists, and brain and hormonal researchers, Gillette divides the link between primate and human evolution into three time frames (jungle, savanna, and civilized) and describes a corresponding sexual reproductive strategy behavior for each. He then illustrates how gender clashes are a result of underlying differences in primal sexual strategies. Thus, the goal of relational therapy is to lift our primate heritage into consciousness so that we can recognize and reconnect with the animal instincts at our core. Self-evaluations and relational exercises are included. Scrupulously documented and guaranteed to elicit rich discussion, this book is recommended for human development collections in academic and large public libraries.
David R. Johnson, Louisiana State Univ. Lib., Eunice
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: B & B Audio; abridged edition edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882071549
• ISBN-13: 978-1882071548
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,058,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Wild Monkey Love, April 28, 2003

By 

"bellebetebooks" (Allegan, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Primal Love: Reclaiming Love With Passion (Hardcover)

"Primal Love" is thoughtful and thought-provoking. It attempts to explain our gender-based differences through the sciences of evolutionary biology and primate behavior. You can learn alot form those crazy bonobos. While this book did not engender quite the "aha moment" that Harville Hendrix's work did, it did give me quite a few insights into my rather conflicting attitudes about money. I found it to be just a tad skewed toward the male perspective. It would be interesting to read something on the same material written by a woman. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to gain more insight into gender-based behavior.

4.0 out of 5 stars The forces that drive our human sexuality are basic, November 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Primal Love: Reclaiming Love With Passion (Hardcover)

Primal Love provides readers a wonderfully informative profile of our human sexuality (as males and females) by focusing not on theory that is based upon psychological "mombo-jumbo" but on the bio-anthropological roots that drive our sexual: desires, behavior and social interaction. For those people trying to evaluate and determine the reasons for their social sexual behavior, this book will give you the "peace of mind" knowing that our (especially male) desires and behavior stem from evolution, and nature's pre-programmed model of perpetuating our genes as a species. Simply knowing the roots driving our human sexuality allows us to better understand and our sexual behavior.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, March 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Primal Love: Reclaiming Love With Passion (Hardcover)

Explains the relationships between the sexes in the context of Evolutionary Psychology. I have recommended this book to several of my female friends who want to better understand why men are they way they are. This book provided me with some great insights and comfort at a time I was going through a painful breakup. Much more interesting, believable and useful than "Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus.