Will Our Love Last?: A Couple's Road Map

Rating:
Summary: The last word on the nature of love? Somehow I doubt it.
Review: This book is as important as "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" in helping us understand our relationships. For anyone thinking about his or her past or present relationships, this is a must read, And it is a FUN read. While the topic is handled seriously and innovatively, it is still very compelling and very enjoyable. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll probably gain new and wonderful insight.

Rating:
Summary: Enduring love
Review: This is a hopeful, helpful book about your chances for a lifelong relationship. Its starting point is a warning that "communication is not enough." People who communicate very well may not be truly compatible with each other. Helping you find out if you will be compatible for life with the person you love is the purpose of this book. Compatibility is not easy to recognize, but Dr. Hamburg's lively mix of anecdotes and explanations help you think about the many sources of compatibility. This is a wonderful book for parents who want to understand their children's romances, for young people on the lookout for a perfect match, and for people who want to think about why a good relationship went bad.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, practical and accessible
Review: This is a wonderfully practical guide for couples - full of wisdom, common sense and humor. Hamburg's three dimensional model for assessing couple compatibility helped me to understand why we reach some of the impasses we do with our partners. The questions will aid any couple in making a frank and open-eyed appraisal of their basic compatibility, a step which is often neglected in the emotional intensity of a young love relationship. As a marital therapist, I appreciate Hamburg's simple, yet thoughtful, questions and clinical examples as an aid to couples in sifting through their questions and doubts about their choice of a partner. As with any self-help volume, the emphasis is on a particular approach - in this case cognitive and behavioral techniques. In my view the only shortcoming of this book is an under-emphasis on examining the role of individual limitations - such as personality disorders and unresolved family events - in the perpetuaion of couple conflict. That said, I will continue to enthusiasticaly recommend Will Our Love Last? to many of the couples I see in the office as well as those I know personally.