I was intrigued by Born for Love, but I did not expect to love and appreciate it as much as I did! The writing style was approachable and engaging, as Perry & Szalavitz alternate between explaining concepts of early childhood attachment & development and giving specific case examples. Perry and Szalavitz discuss how empathy is developed (or hindered) and how we can nurture the seeds of empathy, citing many relevant, recent, and critical research studies. They also discuss the long-term implicati...

Another great book written by Dr. Perry and his counterpart. If you’re interested in psychology, particularly child psychology, this is a must read!

5- This is an important and well-written book. It's easy to read, although sad and poignant at times. I recommend it for anyone who has children in their life and wants to improve our collective future.

"Will increasing empathy solve all the world's problems? Of course not. But few of them can be solved without it."And so ends Born for Love by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz, a book about the nature of empathy and its importance in modern society. The authors examine the development of empathy in babies and young children, how factors such as race and socioeconomic status affect empathy, and how empathy allows us to live longer and more meaningful lives. Perry and Szalavitz examine empathy from

I didn't find "Born for Love" as tightly written as the authors' other effort "The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog"; there was a fair amount of repeated material within the book. Still, I enjoyed the book & there were many fascinating tidbits. The overall message is that relationships matter, love matters, and early experiences are foundational (even to the point of altering DNA expression via epigenetics).I thought the authors relied too heavily on anthropologist Sarah Hrdy's theories. Hrdy argues

I really enjoyed this book and felt like I really learned a lot but... I had to force myself to sit down and finish it. This definitely wasn't the book I thought it was going to be. I had the misconception that this was going to be a book that relates empathy with social awareness and social context of today. Although some of these things were discussed, the book was primarily about how our brains develop empathy and the dangers of a deficit of it. It was much more of an educational book on neur...

I really can't be bothered to read books that purport to be "scientific", but that don't provide proper notes and references. An author could just make up any old crap (or provide the spin they like best) and if they don't give references for their claims, why should I believe them? I think it's great to write popular science books, but this shouldn't be at the expense of proper references. (If it makes a book too long, they could be put online.)

In the beginning I was intrigued with the exploration of just how important relationship/connection is for humans and how we develop (or fail to develop) empathy. Eventually this book just turned into information overload. I could not finish. It is not useless, so I'd still say it's worth exploring.

Good scientific book with background on the "why". It's dry (as expected) but good info.

Why Empathy is this important? Because your very survival depends on it. We are one of the few species that have their babies taken care of by other adults apart from their parents, so cues that a baby gives, and hopefully that the adults percieve are essential for this dependent tiny being! Also, they might not speak but their gestuelles and micro behaviours are so loud for empaths to see! As for it being a personal pick, I think that this was natural after being fully immersed in Brene Brown t...

Dr. Bruce Perry has written now two books that have changed my perspective on life. This book is riveting, terrifying, and inspiring all in one. A must-read.

This book was recommended to me by one of my social work professors. Bruce covers so much in this book, and as someone just entering the non-fiction/psychology genre, this was easy to follow and understand. Every chapter has potent case studies that are used to explain specific points. While it is very sad at some points overall, it is a very hopeful book that reaffirms my hope in humanity. One point I appreciated was how western culture puts a lot of responsibility on the immediate family and e...

A great exploration of human connection and why it matters.

This book approached the issue of empathy from all sorts of angles: developmental psychology, sociology, history, etc. I thought the case studies the authors used to show how empathy develops (or doesn't) in children were particularly useful, and they also connected lack of empathy to economic inequality in a way that I rarely see other authors do. It's not surprising that deficits in empathy have such major implications in society.However, I think the authors were a little too careless with the...

This is it--definitely my recommendation for the year. EVERYONE should know this!!! Wonder if/how it would have changed my parenting if I'd read it B.K. (before kids). Seriously I could NOT stop thinking about all the great material in here and I wanted to talk about it with everyone I saw (sorry if I was annoying). I still do.I'm going to buy and re-read this book, and see if I can get my husband to read selections as well.One downer-- it fades at the end. It took me 10 times longer to read the...

I have loved every one of Perry’s books, this one included. There were times when I had a lot of emotions about what he was saying, reflecting back on my own childhood and circumstances of development, and had to pause at times to digest. In his usual style, he uses examples from his practice to illustrate larger themes about child development. The cases are always very memorable and this presentation makes the often complex information much easier to digest. More than I remember from his other

The information in this book is interesting and so important but this was a difficult book to read. The writing was too academic. I was always falling asleep while reading it.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It had some intriguing insights into how the human brain works, particularly in reference to the concept of mirror neurons and the idea that empathy is actually (in part) instinctual and part of human biology. But I think I went into the book with my expectations set too high. I had recently read Perry's first book, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook, and was impressed at how elegantly the author struck a

A great book for any person who wants to have children, has young children or who works with children to learn more about how empathy is developed and how the nervous system is wired through connection with several close caregivers to help children connect with others in our world and become resilient, empathic adults.

This book was required reading for a professional development class I am taking on Kindness. I teach 8th grade science and want to bring more kindness to my classroom. I'm distressed by the drama that takes place amongst middle school students and hope to bring more safety, trust, and inclusion into my classroom. This book was interesting and it gives me a better understanding of the source for the behavior I see on a daily basis with my students.