Friendship
The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond
by Lydia Denworth
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Pub Date Jan 28 2020 | Archive Date Dec 31 2019
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Description
A revelatory investigation of friendship, with profound implications for our understanding of what humans and animals alike need to thrive across a lifetime.
The phenomenon of friendship is universal and elemental. Friends, after all, are the family we choose. But what makes these bonds not just pleasant but essential, and how do they affect our bodies and our minds?
In Friendship, science journalist Lydia Denworth takes us in search of friendship’s biological, psychological, and evolutionary foundations. She finds friendship to be as old as early life on the African savannas—when tribes of people grew large enough for individuals to seek fulfillment of their social needs outside their immediate families. Denworth sees this urge to connect reflected in primates, too, taking us to a monkey sanctuary in Puerto Rico and a baboon colony in Kenya to examine social bonds that offer insight into our own.
She meets scientists at the frontiers of brain and genetics research and discovers that friendship is reflected in our brain waves, our genomes, and our cardiovascular and immune systems; its opposite, loneliness, can kill. At long last, social connection is recognized as critical to wellness and longevity.
With insight and warmth, Denworth weaves past and present, field biology and neuroscience, to show how our bodies and minds are designed for friendship across life stages, the processes by which healthy social bonds are developed and maintained, and how friendship is changing in the age of social media.
Blending compelling science, storytelling, and a grand evolutionary perspective, Denworth delineates the essential role that cooperation and companionship play in creating human (and nonhuman) societies. Friendship illuminates the vital aspects of friendship, both visible and invisible, and offers a refreshingly optimistic vision of human nature. It is a clarion call for putting positive relationships at the center of our lives.
About the Author: Lydia Denworth is the author of I Can Hear You Whisper and Toxic Truth, and a contributing editor for Scientific American and blogger for Psychology Today. Her work is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and she lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Advance Praise
“The power of friendship—in many ways the most essential of our relationships—has long been underestimated. It's an absolute pleasure to see Lydia Denworth do it justice in this lovely, insightful, and important book.” - Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Poison Squad
“Friendship was once mocked as a naive notion, irrelevant in our species and nonexistent in others. In her lively, personable style, Lydia Denworth reviews what we know about the benefits of close relationships and their long evolutionary history” - Frans de Waal, author of Mama’s Last Hug
“The science of friendship has grown remarkably rich in recent years, with scientists studying everything from the chemicals that create bonds in our brains to the friendships animals make for years on end. There's a deep evolutionary story to friendship now, and Lydia Denworth tells it in clear, lyrical prose.” - Carl Zimmer, author of She Has Her Mother's Laugh
“A sweeping, precise, and engaging narrative about our primordial capacity for friendship. If you care about what really matters in life, read this fantastic natural history of human friendship.” - Nicholas A. Christakis, author of Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
“I can think of no better rebuke to today’s success-obsessed brand of parenting than Denworth’s clarion call for friendship. Her convincing narration of the science shows that for our kids to live happily ever after, and successfully too, we must let them spend many more afternoons with friends.” - Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How to Raise an Adult
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780393651546 |
| PRICE | $26.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Barbara K, Educator
Lydia Denworth does an excellent job of explaining historical and current friendship research to lay people. She provides copious examples and frequent glimpses into research taking place right now. She also ties together animal and human research to show that friendship networks are common to many animals, not only humans, and that good relationships affect physical, mental, and cognitive health. She offers a strong case for making meaningful relationships a priority in our busy lives, starting with childhood and continuing through old age. I highly recommend this book to people of all ages who seek healthy, meaningful lives.
Michelle K, Educator
Lydia Denworth's comprehensive look at the evolution and necessity of friendship is highly informative and engaging. I don't think I've ever devoured a nonfiction book quite this quickly, and that was all due to Denworth's writing style--she ably breaks down even complicated scientific terms and ideas so anyone can understand them by illustrating unfamiliar concepts with stories and analogies from her own life.
Learning more about what scientists are currently discovering about the importance of friendship would have been compelling enough (spoiler alert: friendship is highly important to our health and well-being at all points of our lives) but she also takes us through the all the primate studies that have been conducted through the past several decades. Interestingly, primate research teaches us that friendship is much older than humans are, suggesting that it is not just a nice thing to have; it's a biological imperative.
Denworth wraps up with an exhortation for us to pay attention to and cultivate our relationships even if we feel we're too busy for friends because just like neglecting our health, the ramifications of neglecting our friends could lead to loneliness in later life, and that loneliness has been proven to be just as deadly as any of our current health crises. Everyone should read this book and then go hug their friends and family members.
