** Previously published in hardcover as Love in the Time of Algorithms ** Once considered the realm of the lonely and desperate, sites like eHarmony, Match, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish have been embraced by pretty much every demographic. Dating has been transformed from a daunting transaction based on scarcity to one in which the possibilities are almost endless. Now anyone can search for exactly what they want, connect with more people, and get more information about those people than ever before. As journalist Dan Slater shows, online dating is changing society in more profound ways than we imagine. He explores how these new technologies, by altering our perception of what’s possible, are reconditioning our feelings about commitment and challenging the traditional paradigm of adult life. Slater takes readers behind the scenes of a fascinating business. Dating sites capitalize on our quest for love, but how do their creators’ ideas about pro ts, morality, and the nature of desire shape the virtual worlds they’ve created for us?
'There's someone out there for all of us...' First Dates, Channel 4's runaway hit TV show, has captured the hearts of the nation. Each week millions of us cosy up on our sofas to watch nervous singletons arrive in the restaurant in the hope of finding love. Now Fred Sirieix, the insatiably charming Maître'd of the First Dates restaurant, is here to help all of us - whether we're on a quest to find 'the one', or simply want to discover more about how to connect with someone and sustain the magic. With his unique take on romance, Fred reveals his recipe for a perfect date, and hopefully a perfect match. This beguiling book brings the First Dates world to the page: all the heart-warming twists and turns of the most awkward meal of the daters' lives, the larger-than-life characters we have grown to love, and the timeless wisdom of Fred and his team. They share their match-making secrets: from breaking the ice to dealing with surprises and getting to grips with the rules of attraction, along with all the toe-curling moments and across-the-table triumphs as couples seek to find The One. This is First Dates. This is The Art of Love.
Based on years of research and 121 real-life first dates, relationship expert Wendy Newman dishes up practical wisdom for navigating the online dating trenches with grace, efficiency, and a strong dose of humor. Wendy Newman has made every imaginable dating mistake so you don’t have to. Part guidebook, part personal tell-all, 121 First Dates chronicles Wendy’s funny, real-life misadventures and the practical wisdom she gained from them. Her dating tales will find you laughing, commiserating, and nodding your head as you learn how to stay in the dating game until you find the right man, just like Wendy did. This book busts myths, answers age-old questions, and examines pitfalls that make you want to give up on dating altogether. Just when you’re about to submit to a lifetime at home with a pint of Haagen-Dazs and sitcom reruns, 121 First Dates will inspire you to keep stepping out. Wendy discusses how to date successfully and efficiently, avoid the most common dating pitfalls, have an amazing first date with anyone, end uncomfortable situations with grace, and much, much more. She offers up realistic Dos and Don’ts as well as tips for making the most of any situation you find yourself in—whether you want to run or you think he’s the one. Brimming with humor, hope, and authenticity, 121 First Dates will give every woman the tools, confidence, and determination to be and stay real when dating. How else will you find the best match for you?
A “must-read” (The Washington Post) funny and practical guide to help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams. Have you ever looked around and wondered, “Why has everyone found love except me?” You’re not the only one. Great relationships don’t just appear in our lives—they’re the culmination of a series of decisions, including whom to date, how to end it with the wrong person, and when to commit to the right one. But our brains often get in the way. We make poor decisions, which thwart us on our quest to find lasting love. Drawing from years of research, behavioral scientist turned dating coach Logan Ury reveals the hidden forces that cause those mistakes. But awareness on its own doesn’t lead to results. You have to actually change your behavior. Ury shows you how. This “simple-to-use guide” (Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) focuses on a different decision in each chapter, incorporating insights from behavioral science, original research, and real-life stories. You’ll learn: -What’s holding you back in dating (and how to break the pattern) -What really matters in a long-term partner (and what really doesn’t) -How to overcome the perils of online dating (and make the apps work for you) -How to meet more people in real life (while doing activities you love) -How to make dates fun again (so they stop feeling like job interviews) -Why “the spark” is a myth (but you’ll find love anyway) This “data-driven” (Time), step-by-step guide to relationships, complete with hands-on exercises, is designed to transform your life. How to Not Die Alone will help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams.
"He spills out a pile of pennies all over the table, telling me he fished through the couch for change to pay for his big night out." From the guy who chews on rocks to the one who has his mom tag along, Awful First Dates is filled with hilarious, cringe-worthy, holy-crap-did-that-really-happen?! stories from celebrities like Lauren Conrad and Michael Kors, you'll laugh, you'll cringe-and most importantly-you'll feel better about some of the date's you've been on! •He ate an entire bowl of dip with his fingers. •He said, "I think we should hang out in the woods and just groove on each other." •About thirty minutes in, he paused, took a sip of win, and then said, "So, can we go have sex now?" Sarah Z. Wexler, a freelance writer, lives and goes on first dates in New York City.
“Amy Webb found her true love after a search that's both charmingly romantic and relentlessly data-driven. Anyone who uses online dating sites must read her funny, fascinating book.”—Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project After yet another disastrous date, Amy Webb was preparing to cancel her JDate membership when epiphany struck: her standards weren’t too high, she just wasn’t approaching the process the right way. Using her gift for data strategy, she found which keywords were digital-man magnets, analyzed photos, and then adjusted her (female) profile to make the most of that intel. Then began the deluge—dozens of men who actually met her own stringent requirements wanted to meet her. Among them: her future husband, now the father of her child.
“If online dating can blunt the emotional pain of separation, if adults can afford to be increasingly demanding about what they want from a relationship, the effect of online dating seems positive. But what if it’s also the case that the prospect of finding an ever more compatible mate with the click of a mouse means a future of relationship instability, a paradox of choice that keeps us chasing the illusive bunny around the dating track?” It’s the mother of all search problems: how to find a spouse, a mate, a date. The escalating marriage age and declining marriage rate mean we’re spending a greater portion of our lives unattached, searching for love well into our thirties and forties. It’s no wonder that a third of America’s 90 million singles are turning to dating Web sites. Once considered the realm of the lonely and desperate, sites like eHarmony, Match, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish have been embraced by pretty much every demographic. Thanks to the increasingly efficient algorithms that power these sites, dating has been transformed from a daunting transaction based on scarcity to one in which the possibilities are almost endless. Now anyone—young, old, straight, gay, and even married—can search for exactly what they want, connect with more people, and get more information about those people than ever before. As journalist Dan Slater shows, online dating is changing society in more profound ways than we imagine. He explores how these new technologies, by altering our perception of what’s possible, are reconditioning our feelings about commitment and challenging the traditional paradigm of adult life. Like the sexual revolution of the 1960s and ’70s, the digital revolution is forcing us to ask new questions about what constitutes “normal”: Why should we settle for someone who falls short of our expectations if there are thousands of other options just a click away? Can commitment thrive in a world of unlimited choice? Can chemistry really be quantified by math geeks? As one of Slater’s subjects wonders, “What’s the etiquette here?” Blending history, psychology, and interviews with site creators and users, Slater takes readers behind the scenes of a fascinating business. Dating sites capitalize on our quest for love, but how do their creators’ ideas about profits, morality, and the nature of desire shape the virtual worlds they’ve created for us? Should we trust an industry whose revenue model benefits from our avoiding monogamy? Documenting the untold story of the online-dating industry’s rise from ignominy to ubiquity—beginning with its early days as “computer dating” at Harvard in 1965—Slater offers a lively, entertaining, and thought provoking account of how we have, for better and worse, embraced technology in the most intimate aspect of our lives.
Whether you’re newly together and eager to make it work or a longtime couple looking to strengthen and deepen your bond, Eight Dates offers a program of how, why, and when to have eight basic conversations with your partner that can result in a lifetime of love. “Happily ever after” is not by chance, it’s by choice– the choice each person in a relationship makes to remain open, remain curious, and, most of all, to keep talking to one another. From award-winning marriage researcher and bestselling author Dr. John Gottman and fellow researcher Julie Gottman, Eight Dates offers an ingenious and simple-to-implement approach to effective relationship communication. Here are the subjects that every serious couple should discuss: Trust. Family. Sex and intimacy. Dealing with conflict. Work and money. Dreams, and more. And here is how to talk about them—how to broach subjects that are difficult or embarrassing, how to be brave enough to say what you really feel. There are also suggestions for where and when to go on each date—book your favorite romantic restaurant for the Sex & Intimacy conversation (and maybe go to a yoga or dance class beforehand). There are questionnaires, innovative exercises, real-life case studies, and skills to master, including the Four Skills of Intimate Conversation and the Art of Listening. Because making love last is not about having a certain feeling—it’s about both of you being active and involved.
'This book will change lives. I couldn't put it down.' Fleur Brown, Founding Team TEDxSydney. 'I laughed, learned a lot and cried my eyes out.' Jaquie Brown What will it take to follow your dream? On the outside, Rebekah Campbell has an enviable life. She is founder of hot Sydney startup Posse.com, writes a popular blog and gives inspirational talks at conferences for female entrepreneurs. But when she turns off the light each night, she is alone and terrified of the future. She knows that what's important to her isn't money or startup glory or social media followers. She wants love. She wants a family. And she is stuck. She hasn't been on a date in ten years. She's too embarrassed to list herself on the internet and can't bear the risk of getting rejected. She decides to act. She'll take the tactics she's learnt building companies and apply them to finding a man. Her epic journey will take her on dates with 138 different men in Sydney, New York and San Francisco, while at the same time confronting the immense challenges of launching a business. She'll face exhaustion, humiliation and heartbreak; she'll meet some strange and dangerous characters. And she will strip herself of the ego and expectations that have been holding her back. She will not stop. 138 Dates proves that the end is always worth the effort.
With exercises, practical tools, and inspiring stories, Deeper Dating will guide you on a journey to find the love—and personal fulfillment—you long for Lose weight. Be confident. Keep your partner guessing. At the end of the day, this soulless approach to dating doesn't lead to love but to insecurity and desperation. In Deeper Dating, Ken Page presents a new path to love. Out of his decades of work as a psychotherapist and his own personal struggle to find love, Page teaches that the greatest magnet for real love lies in our "Core Gifts"—the places of our deepest sensitivity, longing, and passion. Deeper Dating guides us to discover our own Core Gifts and empowers us to express them with courage, generosity, and discrimination in our dating life. When we do this, something miraculous happens: we begin to attract people who love us for who we are, we become more self-assured and emotionally available, and we lose our taste for relationships that chip away at our self-esteem. Without losing a pound, changing our hairstyle, or buying a single new accessory, we find healthy love moving closer . . . Deeper Dating integrates the best of human intimacy theory with timeless spiritual truths and translates them into a practical, step-by-step process.
