John T. Cacioppo s groundbreaking research topples one of the pillars of modern medicine and psychology: the focus on the individual as the unit of...
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May 12, 2010
This is the first book I've read in a long time that has pretty radically rearranged the way I think about a lot of things.
I came across it while reading through all the U.S. Psychology department labs; it's written by head of the dept at U. Chicago. It's awesome to read a (readable) cognitive book actually written by one of the lead researchers, instead of just technical papers or pop books by someone else, or even pop books by researchers on topics they're not involved in directly. More...
I came across it while reading through all the U.S. Psychology department labs; it's written by head of the dept at U. Chicago. It's awesome to read a (readable) cognitive book actually written by one of the lead researchers, instead of just technical papers or pop books by someone else, or even pop books by researchers on topics they're not involved in directly. More...
Mar 16, 2010
Ben
rated it: 
I enjoyed this book.
Summary of the cover:
I wish the authors had given a little more prominence to the subtitle, "Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection" - which sounds enough like an exposition on psychology that it could be used to impress others with your intellectual voracity - but no...instead, the main title of "Loneliness" pretty much ruled out reading this book in public, since that sounds a lot more like a self-help book / desperate-cr More...
Summary of the cover:
I wish the authors had given a little more prominence to the subtitle, "Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection" - which sounds enough like an exposition on psychology that it could be used to impress others with your intellectual voracity - but no...instead, the main title of "Loneliness" pretty much ruled out reading this book in public, since that sounds a lot more like a self-help book / desperate-cr More...
Dec 28, 2010
King
rated it:
Full Disclosure: I am an introvert. Full fledged introvert. I have a general disdain for the part of the ego that desires acceptance from other people. I feel a need to rebel and quiet that part of the self. And like most introverts, I do not equate being alone with loneliness. I also have what Ainsworth calls a non-attached attachment type.
I do however do not wish to succumb to the extreme of my personality type. I wanted to make sure I was not being obstinately clinging to my intr More...
I do however do not wish to succumb to the extreme of my personality type. I wanted to make sure I was not being obstinately clinging to my intr More...
Jul 19, 2010
Drew
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This book explains in detail what Darwin began to explore in an under-appreciated major work, The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals. In essence, loneliness is an evolved response to encourage individuals to seek out fellowship because it promotes the survival of their progeny. It stands modern Machiavellian-like interpretations of the "survival of the fittest" on their head by pointing out empirical results that show selfish pursuit of individual interest at the cost of others
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Feb 16, 2010
Jafar
rated it: 
The main thesis of this book is that loneliness is a feeling like hunger and pain – evolved to warn us that something is wrong with us. It’s not just some abstract, wistful feeling. It’s trying to tell us that something is not right and we need to pay attention to it and correct it. As a species, we evolved to need companionship physically. The degree to which we need social connection is largely genetic and varies from person to person, but regardless of the level of the need, if we go below ou
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Nov 17, 2010
Lumpenprole
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I'm not certain I buy the conclusions of this book, though I'm certainly in no position to dispute the research they claim backs it up. They gave only the briefest of nods to the fact that one can be alone without being lonely, but the implication seemed to be -- overall -- that being alone means being lonely, that human beings are "hardwired" to seek companionship and that failure to achieve it results in everything from an early death to a poor diet.
I suppose I could conti More...
I suppose I could conti More...
Jun 17, 2010
Akie
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 06, 2010
Dorothy
rated it:
Disappointing. This book started out interestingly, exploring the human brain and how it processes loneliness. Then it got into social connection in general, how much different people need on various levels. I kept waiting for the "how to stop feeling lonely" section, but it never came.
Then I went on vacation, leaving this book behind. When I returned, he was talking about bonobos and chimps, and it all fell apart. It had crumbs of jumbled disparate advice, mostly supe More...
Then I went on vacation, leaving this book behind. When I returned, he was talking about bonobos and chimps, and it all fell apart. It had crumbs of jumbled disparate advice, mostly supe More...
May 25, 2009
Jeff
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This was a good read, not really a self-help type of book (although it did include some research-based methods to decrease loneliness for people finding themselves trapped in the predicament) but instead a culmination of several years of research showing our human need for community, and the results of our predicament if we find ourselves feeling the "symptom" of loneliness without doing anything proactively. It included a variety of fields of study, including a primer on evolutionary
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Jun 17, 2010
There he went. Number 1215. Number 1215, the new tenant in the apartment across from hers. Jenevie walked a lot slower to the elevator, laundry basket in hand, to avoid being in the same elevator as number 1215. She might have found 1215 incredibly attractive, but she lacked the proper attire (it was laundry day!) not to mention self-esteem to share the confines of an elevator with him for fifteen floors. It's not that Jenevie wasn't pretty, on the contrary, Jenevie had benefited well from her u
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May 03, 2010
Sasha
rated it:
Even if you don't think of yourself as lonely, you may still find this engagingly written, scientific book to be of interest. This book is not so much about the painful emotion of loneliness. It's really about sufficient and insufficient meaningful social connection.
We each have different forms and degrees of social needs. But virtually all of us have those social needs built deeply into our bodies, as we evolved a long time ago as social animals, dependent on cooperation for our s More...
We each have different forms and degrees of social needs. But virtually all of us have those social needs built deeply into our bodies, as we evolved a long time ago as social animals, dependent on cooperation for our s More...
Jun 23, 2009
Simon
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I just concluded reading this book. Bottom line: human beings are designed to seek meaningful (keyword here is meaningful) relationships. It's no wonder that studies of regular church-goers show they live longer than their counterparts- the more they are united by a common idea and maintain a healthy relationship between each other in a meaningful manner, the more their physiologies are encapsulated from stresses and wear and tear of loneliness. I recommend this book.
Also, interestin More...
Also, interestin More...
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Sep 23, 2008
Darren
rated it:
A book that mainly deals with the scientific underpinnings of the emotion of loneliness, as derived from psychological and neuroscientific research. Four stars because of the interesting subject matter and the fact that reading this book may actually make me a 'better' person, something that I had no intention of happening when I started reading it.
I can do without the vignettes and stories that are sprinkled throughout. They serve as illustrations of various concepts, and are a More...
I can do without the vignettes and stories that are sprinkled throughout. They serve as illustrations of various concepts, and are a More...
Jan 09, 2011
I have a lot further to go but I think this is a very brilliant author on a topic where he can bring his thoughts down to the layperson without doing a disservice to either him or his reader.
This is an investigation into loneliness, about how the need for social connection is so fundamental in humans that without it we fall apart, down to the cellular level. Cacioppo notes that, "over time, blood pressure climbs and gene expression falters. Cognition dulls; immune systems deteri More...
This is an investigation into loneliness, about how the need for social connection is so fundamental in humans that without it we fall apart, down to the cellular level. Cacioppo notes that, "over time, blood pressure climbs and gene expression falters. Cognition dulls; immune systems deteri More...
Aug 02, 2011
The father of social neuroscience together with William Patrick summarized more than 3 decades of research on the social influences on physiology and health. One of the lessons is that "loneliness" is a natural alarm signal to warn us of the need of social connection just as thirsty is a signal that tell us to hidrate the body. Onother lesson is that we have to connect with each other. A good book about an increasing pandemia in post-industrial societies: loneliness
Dec 24, 2008
Neil
rated it:
the social commentary is profound. the modesty with which Cacioppo attacks some of the pillars of the liberal project is strangely unsettling. nonetheless, an entirely informative, digestible book.
Additionally, this book should not be confused with the "self-help," televangelist clap trap that sells out at your friendly, neighborhood, hometown, all-american Barnes and Noble. This book challenges those superficialities and does so in one of the most constructive ways I've e
Additionally, this book should not be confused with the "self-help," televangelist clap trap that sells out at your friendly, neighborhood, hometown, all-american Barnes and Noble. This book challenges those superficialities and does so in one of the most constructive ways I've e
Oct 05, 2010
Ajableu
rated it:
This book was denser than I expected. Keep in mind that this is not a typical self help book, it is a thorough treatise on Loneliness. Cacioppo's basic point is that loneliness is a psychological state designed to warn the mind of an unsafe environment. To be socially isolated is a vulnerable state. He compares loneliness to hunger, which alerts the body to replenish its energy sources.
At the end of the book there is a brief section on ways to cope with loneliness using a Cognitive Be More...
At the end of the book there is a brief section on ways to cope with loneliness using a Cognitive Be More...
Oct 06, 2009
(Mentioned in the conclusion of Sarah Hrdy's Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding, p. 286.)
Apr 15, 2010
Kara
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It was interesting, but not really what I was looking for. The majority of the studies were based on primates, not humans. Other parts seemed more like a self help book. If you are looking for a book to better understand why you are lonely and how to change, it's a good read. However, it's for the lay reader, not really if you were looking to get more information on a neuropsychology standpoint.
May 27, 2010
Pat
rated it:
How our brains have become hard-wired to have regular contact with others to aid survival...lots of interesting connections with the need for family bonds and other social connections....the title may seem sort of a "downer" but the tone of the book is very upbeat...in the same category as "The Tipping Point" and others by Malcolm Gladwell.
Sep 28, 2008
Michael
rated it:
This book outlines the results of more than 20 years of scientific research into social connection. From psychological studies to anthropological research, it shows the biological necessity of human beings to have contact with other human beings. It also shows how human society is becoming rapidly more disconnected, in just the last twenty years.
For me, the next to last chapter was worth the price of the book. It give specific suggestions for how to become more socially connected & s More...
For me, the next to last chapter was worth the price of the book. It give specific suggestions for how to become more socially connected & s More...
Aug 05, 2011
I read this for Intro Sociology and enjoyed it to my surprise. It has a lot of insight about natural tendencies humans have to seek human contact (depending on one's predisposition). Not a "self help" book at all I thought.
Oct 16, 2008
Stark
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Terrific! Wonderful, clear pop-sci summation of a lot of recent exciting cognitive and neuroscience research on social functioning. Also provides a useful picture of embodied mind, better than that whole stupid mind/body dichotomy thing we've inherited from stupid cave people -- i.e. it describes very fully the ways in which emotions and other mental events affect the health of the rest of the body. And, finally, provides some simple guidelines for improving one's social functioning if maybe per
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Jul 06, 2010
Dana
rated it:
More science-based than I expected it to be.
Everyone has a need for social connection... but some more than others. The best way to get this connection is to reach out to others.
Everyone has a need for social connection... but some more than others. The best way to get this connection is to reach out to others.
Aug 31, 2009
Rachel Ann
rated it:
This book is a fascinating look at how humans have evolved into social beings that need one another in order to survive and in order to be happy. Although the writing is heavily science based, I found the book easy to digest and hard to put down because it was organized and written so well. Definitely read this book if you are at all interested in neuroscience, evolution, or psychology.
Jun 03, 2009
E
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Really enjoyed this book- incredibly interesting (I often found myself uttering a surprised "huh!" aloud to myself) and easy to read. I think they handled the topic amazingly.
Dec 13, 2010
Adam
rated it:
Secretly, a self-help book hidden among neuroscience prose and monkey-experiment narrative.
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Mar 31, 2009
Erendira
rated it:
A much needed look at the interactional effects of biology and social environment in shaping subjective experiences and behavior. My sociology intro students this semester seemed to enjoy it and were able to make some interesting and useful connections to Durkheim's Suicide and Klinenberg's Heatwave.
