A hilarious, thoughtful, and in-depth exploration of the pleasures and perils of modern romance from one of this generation’s most popular and sharpest comedic voices
At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated?
Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?”
But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate.
For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before.
In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.
At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated?
Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?”
But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate.
For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before.
In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.
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Comments
2
wizardsheart (Grade: A–) Loved this book. It's funny and interesting. Especially to someone like myself that was last in the dating world a decade ago. Very interesting look on how dating has changed with technology.
(Rated on Apr 17, 2016)
1
exsixtwosix (Grade: A) Aziz Ansari describes psychosocial research about dating (that he was involved in with a team of professionals) in a thought-provoking, informational, entertaining, and amusing way. I adored this book because it did two wonderful things: it taught me and it made me laugh. I recommend that everyone pick this up, and sooner than later, since research becomes dated very quickly. (Also, the audiobook was a lot of fun!)
(Rated on Mar 13, 2016)
0
peterbmacd
(Grade: B+) It is an insightful, humorous, and often enlightening book about modern romance.
(Grade: B+) It is an insightful, humorous, and often enlightening book about modern romance.(Rated on Mar 10, 2017)
0
russellthehippo (Grade: B) What a fantastic book! It is pretty much a very extended version of every article I've ever seen about modern dating culture, and it is well worth the six-ish hours it takes to get through. I really love all the little factoids you can pick up during it. Aziz's describes his research well and skillfully weaves in a lot of personal narrative as well. Very enjoyable overall, a good quick read.
(Rated on Feb 12, 2018)
-1
MacabreGoblin (Grade: C) I have to admit, I picked this book up more because I like Aziz Ansari than because I was super interested in learning about modern romance. The book bored me in places, but overall pleasantly surprised me with its readability - which stemmed directly from Ansari's humor and immense charm on the page. Walking away from this book I feel like I've gained some practical information I might actually apply in my dating life. I don't necessarily feel like there were many revelations in this book, b
(Rated on Apr 26, 2016)