I think, us romance readers all agree with renowned anthropologist Helen Fisher when she says, “There's magic to love!” And, her and us, we should know. Ms. Fisher, because she's spent over 30 years studying sex, romantic love and attachment. And us, because we've spent decades reading these same things in our romance novels.
Anyways, I found this TED Talk that Ms. Fisher gave on the evolution, biology, biochemical underpinnings and importance of romantic love. While she talked, I was reminded of what we read over and over again in countless romances that we've consumed: that there's a difference between the three brain systems—sex, romantic love, and attachment, that we can experience them separately for three different people at one time, but that when all three come together, then the world becomes beautiful and amazing!
What Ms. Fisher says confirms what we already know from our romance novels. It goes to show that we learn a lot about life and the real world from what others belittle as “thrasy books.”
Disclaimer: The video below runs for about 23 minutes. I've included the transcript, courtesy of TED.com. All copyrights to the talk and the transcript belongs to TED Conferences LLC and are used here out of the goodness of their heart. (Thank you, TED!)
(By the way, all the emphases in the transcript are mine, just to mark out what were important bits of knowing for me. Feel free to agree or disagree, hee.)
