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More About This Title The Scientific American Book of Love, Sex, and theBrain: The Neuroscience of How, When, Why, and WhoWe Love
English
In her third enthralling book about the brain, Judith Horstman takes us on a lively tour of our most important sex and love organ and the whole smorgasbord of our many kinds of love-from the bonding of parent and child to the passion of erotic love, the affectionate love of companionship, the role of animals in our lives, and the love of God.
Drawing on the latest neuroscience, she explores why and how we are born to love-how we're hardwired to crave the companionship of others, and how very badly things can go without love. Among the findings: parental love makes our brain bigger, sex and orgasm make it healthier, social isolation makes it miserable-and although the craving for romantic love can be described as an addiction, friendship may actually be the most important loving relationship of your life.
Based on recent studies and articles culled from the prestigious Scientific American and Scientific American Mind magazines, The Scientific American Book of Love, Sex, and the Brain offers a fascinating look at how the brain controls our loving relationships, most intimate moments, and our deep and basic need for connection.
English
Scientific American is one of the most popular science magazines in the world.
English
Preface: Who Do You Love?
Introduction: What Is This Thing Called Love?
So What Is Love?
Love Is a Many Splendored Thing—and the Greeks Had a Word for Them All
The Basics Of Your Brain In Love And Sex
I've Got You Under My Skull: Love in Your Brain
You Make Me Feel So Good: The Pleasure Center
The Very Thought of You
How Scientists Research Love and Sex in Your Brain
Chapter 1: Born to Love: Why People Need People
Do You See What I See? How Mirror Neurons Connect Us
The Dangers of Involuntary Mind Merging
The Chemistry of Love
Love Is Everywhere: Where Love Grows in the Brain
A Brain Unable to Love: Inside the Brain of a Psychopath
Baby Face, You’ve Got the Cutest Little Baby Face
Chapter 2: Learning to Love
How Your Parents Affect Your Love Life
Love at First Sight: The Earliest Lessons in Love
If You Could Read My Mind; Moms Do
A Mother’s Everlasting Love
How Parenting Primes Your Brain for Love
Parenting Rewires the Daddy Brain as Well
How Father Love Feeds Both Brains
Postpartum Depression: Misery for Mom and Baby
Loving the One Who Hurts You: Why Children Cling to Abusers.
What If Things Went Wrong with That First Love?
In the End: Do Parents Matter?
Chapter 3: His Brain, Her Brain, Gay Brain and Other Brains
How Real Are the Differences?
The Five Genders of the Brain
His Brain, Her Brain: The Geography
So What Does His Have to Do with Love?
Our Changeable Brains
Some Myths About Male and Female Brains: True or False?
Toujours Gay: The Gay Brain Is Born That Way.
Can Animals Be Gay? Better to Call It Bisexual
I Am What I Am
The Third Gender: When Gender and Sex Do Not Align
Are There Asexuals Among Us? On the Possibility of a Fourth Sexual Orientation
Chapter 4: That Old Black Magic: Your Brain in Love
How Love and Sex Are Good for Your Brain
When Love Occupies Your Brain
Who Do You Love? And Who Loves Ya, Baby?
You've Got That Lovin' Feeling, But What Turns You On?
You Go to My Nose: The Power of Smell over Sex
A Kiss Is (More Than) Just a Kiss
You Light Up My Brain
What's Love Got to Do with It? Plenty It Turns Out—for Women
Need Some Love Potion? Try a Bit of Oxytocin Spray
I'll Have What She's Having: What Makes a Better Female Orgasm?
Does the Penis Have a Brain of Its Own?
When Things Go Wrong: A Fine Romance
Chapter 5: Friendship, Such a Perfect Blendship: Or: or: With a Little Help from My Friends
Is Friendship Declining?
Are You Lonesome Tonight? 60 Million Other Americans Are
You’ve Got a Friend––or You Should!
Widening the Social Circle
Imaginary Friends: TV Characters Can Ease Your Pain
Until the Real Thing Comes Along: Your Brain on Facebook
Work, the “Other Love” in Your Life
Can Animals Love? Yes, and More
How to Make Friends
Chapter 6: Only You Can Make My Dreams Come True: Let’s Get Married
Grow Old Along with Me: The Marriage Benefits
You Make Me Feel So Good: Romance Lowers Stress
Finding That Special Someone: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places?
Falling and Staying in Love
I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face
My One and Only Love: Are We Monogamous?
Granny’s Got to Have It
Your Hormones May Drive You Apart: A Tough Pill to Swallow
Making Love Last: I Get a Kick out of You.
Can Pornography Help Your Love Life?
Love Will Keep Us Together. Lasting Romance Is Embossed in the Brain
Will You Still Need Me When I’m 64?
Chapter 7: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin': When Love Dies
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: How Rejection Affects Your Brain
The Jilted Brain
After the Love Is Gone––You Ache and Ache
Can’t Live If Living Is Without You: The Widowhood Effect
Achy Breaky Heart: Can You Die of a Broken Heart?
Ain't No Cure for Love––But Tylenol Could Help
Every Time You Say Good-Bye, I Die a Little: Why It Hurts to Be Away from Your Lover
Broken Promises: Can the Brain Predict Betrayal?
How Do You Cope with a Breaking Heart?
Chapter 8: For the Love of God
Searching for God in Your Brain
Epilepsy, the Temporal Lobe, and God
Strokes of Insight: Brain Changes and Spiritual Awakening
Religious Ecstasy Is Like Romantic Love—in the Brain at Least
God on the Brain: What Brain Scans Show
Could Religion Shrink Your Brain?
The Evolutionary Roots of God Thought
God Neurons May Be Everywhere
Chapter 9: Technology, Science, and the Future of Sex
The Wonderful World of Cybersex
Sex in Bits and Bytes: The Future of Virtual Sex Is Here
Chapter 10: How Can Love Survive?
But What of Love?
Glossary
Sources
Illustration Credits
About the Author
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