Dating for Dummies [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Part I. Chapter 1. In the beginning....You have to start with confidence..." (more)
Key Phrases: heavy dating, date number one, square breathing, Valentine's Day, Ten Ways, Setting Up the Date (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you think dating is a simple process--meet someone, ask him or her for a date or get asked out yourself, try not to come off as a drooling moron, then arrange to get together for a second date or cut your losses and work to meet someone else--well, lucky you. For many people, it's far more complicated than that, and Dr. Joy Browne addresses those complexities in Dating for Dummies. Exactly how do you meet a potential date? How do you present yourself in the most favorable light? How do you negotiate that first date? (One interesting story Browne tells is of a couple who negotiated a weekend together, deciding whether or not they'd have sex, and under what conditions they'd consider marriage and children--all before their first date.) And how do you proceed from there? The process still comes down to chemistry, but Browne shows how many ways there are to make sure you get your best possible chance with Mr./Ms. Right.

From Library Journal

While you wouldn't want to be caught dead reading either of these titles on the subway, they offer a study in contrasts. Baber and Spitznagel seem to have set out to produce a humorous look at dating and mating, but they deliver a boorish effort that will confirm a lot of women's worst fears about male dating behavior. While some might think that the "humor book" caveat makes everything okay, the overall Beavis-and-Butthead approach to the subject?which is, less dating and more sex in these authors' minds?provides little in the laughs department. Men and women should avoid this book like a blind date with a cold sore, and libraries can pass. By contrast and in keeping with the excellent "For Dummies" treatment of complicated subjects, psychologist Browne's book offers a professional, insightful, and very readable examination of dating?real dating. Browne covers every aspect of the basic mechanics of dating in the 1990s, from making your own personal inventory to help you discover who you are and what you want, to finding appropriate people to date, to actually conducting dates at various stages of relationship development. Nothing seems to be missed by Browne: she tackles breaking up, sex, and even the darker sides of dating, like rape and stalking. This excellent book's biggest drawback for libraries is its numerous "work form" sections, an invitation to certain patrons to make it their own. But Dating for Dummies is worth the risk; recommended for all public libraries.?David M. Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law Sch. Lib, Boston
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; illustrated edition edition (December 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764550721
• ISBN-13: 978-0764550720
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #420,246 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall, a useful book for daters of all experience levels, November 28, 1999

By A Customer

This book is a good guide to dating for everyone....it has useful information on manners and ettiquette. Perhaps one of its best strengths is to give more specific direction on when to do certain things, such as kissing on the first date, sex, good first date spots, how much to spend, etc. The major drawback to it is that it seems to give fairly rigid advice as absolute rules, when in many cases the individual situation would call for a different action. There is also some contradictory advice from one chapter to another, but they are minor contradictions.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Note from a Villanova University Senior Thesis, April 25, 2004

By	elizabeth zellner (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon.com Review for Dating for Dummies
(...)This review was completed by a group of five college seniors from Villanova University. We spent a semester researching and reviewing best-selling self-help books on the subject of romantic relationships. We evaluated five texts after reviewing academic literature specifically on the topics of commitment, trust, conflict, verbal communication, and intimacy. In order to make you a more informed consumer, we hope to provide you with a review of Dating for Dummies.
The author's intent is to provide information on and fundamental ideas about dating so that everyday individuals are able to learn more about themselves. Then, the author helps one find a date, and provides helpful tips and insight in order to make the dating experience more enjoyable, less stressful, and a complete success.
This book is written individually for both men and women of any age group. Whether an individual is 15 years old and going on his or her first date, or 90 years old and rejoining the dating scene with grandchildren, this book provides information on the dating game. The only other prerequisites for reading this book are that individuals be heterosexual and dating in America. Also, Browne specifically notes that this book is designed to be in use from the time that one decides he or she wants to begin dating up until six to nine months after the first date. This book stops when couplehood begins.
Dating for Dummies reads similarly to a manual that is written in a casual, humorous style. In order to grow towards a relationship, Browne works to direct an individual into helping his or her self so that he or she can be a good date. The book provides useful advice and does so in a way that incorporates practical, everyday situations. It is user friendly and is designed to make an individual the best that they can be without being somebody else.

We evaluated how the following five topics were approached in the book:

Commitment- Commitment was in fact addressed in Dating for Dummies. However, it was addressed indirectly in a whole chapter as it is defined in terms of casual, serious, and heavy dating relationships. Dating for Dummies was very practical in its discussion of commitment, but not very thorough. It outlined what level of commitment should be inherent in a relationship, which depends on whether the relationship is casual, serious, or exclusive, etc.

Trust- Trust was found in the index, which indicated discussion on developing trust through self-disclosure, trust as a factor in breaking up, and being able to trust someone enough in a relationship to know that one is safe. Specifically, the book was very detailed on developing trust through self-disclosure and provided examples and tips for making that happen more effectively.

Conflict- Dating for Dummies did address the topic of conflict. While there were no sections mentioned in the index, there were four brief paragraphs that addressed conflict from a very common sense approach. With only four paragraphs to discuss conflict, there were not many examples or exercises for acceptable behavior in dealing with conflict.
Verbal Communication- Dating for Dummies discussed verbal communication skills by providing guidelines on how to communicate when out on a date. It limited itself to providing examples of lines and ideas of what to and what not to talk about. Also, it gave a lot of useful tips for conversations to have when one first meets someone of interest. It definitely targeted the general public with real examples that can one help truly understand and relate to the book.

Intimacy- Intimacy was addressed throughout Dating for Dummies in the context of self disclosure, expression of thought and emotion, listening, and making positive verbal statements. As such, this book provided specific examples of things to tell immediately, a list of things to tell eventually, things to tell before sex, and things to tell if asked or pushed. Also, the book provided rules on sharing feelings, including an example for each rule. Finally, the book provided specific topics that should not be disclosed such as sexual stories, previous love affairs, and flings with the boss, just to name a few. Also, in the case of positive regard, the book provided specific body parts to compliment and specific compliments to give about those body parts.

This book is best for the subject of intimacy.

(...)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Basic Introduction to Dating, October 29, 2003

By	Melissa Darnay, author of Dating 101 (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This book is like an encyclopedia for dating. It covers the entire process of dating from A to Z (well, at least from Abstinence to Yawning). It covers such frivolous topics as hygiene on the day of your date ... to very serious topics like date rape. And of course it covers just about everything in between.

Dating for Dummies is full of bullet points and checklists, which makes this huge book much easier to read than you might expect. For the person who thinks dating in today's world is as difficult as reading hieroglyphics, this book will help you get you over the hump.

As a dating expert who has spent my career as a matchmaker and singles coach, there are a few idiosyncrasies that remind you that Dr. Joy Browne is indeed a psychologist first and foremost. For example, she urges you not to date for an entire year after your divorce (to make sure you're emotionally whole) and not to wear perfume or cologne on a date (after all, you wouldn't want to offend your date or set off an allergic reaction).

Bottom Line - This is a great basic introduction to dating. If you're new to the dating scene (or if you haven't had a date in a decade), then this book will help you get started.