Monday, October 15, 2007

Relating by the book

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. The Rules. He's Just Not That Into You.

These are all the names of best-selling books intended to inform readers of ways to develop healthy, successful relationships or determine unhealthy relationships so that one can terminate them.

My friends and I have all, at some point, read a relationship book for one reason or another. I have one friend who was so focused on the "rules" that she ruled herself out of a relationship. And almost every person I know who has read the book "He's Just Not That Into You" hated it because they realized their main feature of attraction at the time was not into them. (Though I would think feeling the need to purchase the book should be a major indicator and could save you a few bucks.)

For the most part, I read them for comic value, especially if they have anecdotes. It's amazing the crazy things people will admit to in a book.

From the books I have read, all the "good" ones give the same, common-sense advice: communicate wisely, go with your intuition, be open. Nevertheless, writing such books is a million-dollar enterprise that continues to grow.

Have you ever read a book on relationships? What book was it and did it help you romantically?

4 comments:

misty said...

Actually, "Men Are From Mars" I did find helpful - if only because it explained the different ways men and women communicate and why men need extra space and women usually don't. I bought a house with a "cave" just for my guy.

Anonymous said...

I purchased "He's Just Not that Into You" (the abridged version) after a break-up. I can see it being bad while you are dating someone. But it was rather humorously pleasant after breaking up and made me feel better about having broken up.

Anonymous said...

Those books are horrible. Don't buy them. They just prey on your insecurities.

Anonymous said...

I agree with don't waste your money. They are fun to read just to compare what you're doing already with the so-called experts, but usually what they say is pretty much common sense anyway. But common sense isn't that common...