The premise of the book is great and the author really delivers. Great read. Highly recommended. .

The Incurable Romantic should have been a easy book for me, as someone who is obsessed with abnormal psychology and noseying into other people's most private personal lives, to like. But, as most things are wont to do, the reality of the book did not match up with the weight of my enormous expectations.
Instead of focussing solely on the myriad of intriguing patients, Frank Tallis never ceases in bringing the topic back around to him. How great he is as a psychologist, how many of his female clients have been attracted to him, how he saved an entire town from a human-sacrificing cult. I mean, seriously dude? Stop character-shilling yourself.
He constantly, despite being a supposed-objective professional, made judgements about innumerable patients due to their age, appearance and sexual experiences. Has psychology not taught him anything? Certainly not how not to judge a book by its cover or apply a theory belonging to anyone other than the misogynistic, cocaine-sorting, wholly-discredited(!!!) Freud.
Actually, the book itself felt very Freudian which ultimately means that the whole tone of it gave far more away about the psycholgist than any of the people he was 'helping'.

Nothing gets me quite as excited as books or films that dig into the human psyche. Whether it is psychological thrillers, suspense movies or genuine historical accounts, I want to know why we’re all mad. So of course Frank Tallis’ The Incurable Romantic caught my eye straightaway. What more could I possible ask for than for a veteran psychologist to walk me through the madness of love? Thanks to Perseus Books, Basic Books and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am fascinated by the human mind because it is such a mystery. Why do we do the things we do? How do we explain our actions to ourselves? What is right and what is wrong? Throughout the past centuries there have been many different explanations for why some people act outside the boundaries of what we consider normal. Many of those explanations were rooted in misogyny or racism and we’re only slowly ridding ourselves of those prejudices, but that doesn’t mean we’re any closer to figuring ourselves out. And then add to all that confusion the intoxication of love. It’s the tropiest of tropes, we’ll do anything for love, but according to Frank Tallis that is truer than we might expect. We humans will go to extremely lengths to get and justify our loves and desires, even if it goes against all logic. For Tallis ‘love sickness’ is not something to call angsty teenagers, but rather a diagnosis that should be taken seriously. You can imagine just how quickly The Incurable Romantic hooked me!

In each chapter, Frank Tallis introduces us to one of his patients and each is more fascinating than the last. There is an old woman who has a surprising reason for missing he recently deceased husband., a man who knows just how wrong his attraction to young girls is but can’t seem to stop it, and a woman who is so madly in love nothing will convince her that her feelings aren’t reciprocated. What emerged from the novel for me was the realization that none of us really know how to handle love. There is a biological instinct that supports it. After all, if parents love each other they are more likely to create a stable home for offspring. On the other hand, dying of a broken heart is a very real thing so why would any of us even risk it? Tallis is very honest as he describes the cases, showing us his own doubts and worries about patients, his own fears he may not be doing enough and his own short comings as a partner. This adds to the humanity of his patients and makes it just that little bit easier for the reader to admit that they also don’t have a clue what they’re doing.

Frank Tallis doesn’t deep dive into the theoretical side of it all too much, this isn’t a technical book, there is no guide on how to diagnose yourself here. The Incurable Romantic feels like you’ve caught up with an old professor for coffee who is now finally ready to tell you all about his cases. There is something cozy and gentle to The Incurable Romantic that prevents it from being judgmental. At times there is a curious lack of detail when it comes to the different cases, especially in regards to time as the book seemingly spans all the decades of Tallis’ long career. I still don’t know when he saw these people, and at times it makes the cases seem almost unreal. Has anyone in The Incurable Romantic heard of the internet? This curious lack of time adds to the haziness of the book that might frustrate readers looking for more understanding. In the end, I appreciated The Incurable Romantic for the insight that it gave me, both into others and myself.

The Incurable Romantic is a great read for anyone who wants to do a shallow deep dive into the human mind. This book is a gentle stroll through the field of psychology and although some of its cases might disturb the reader, Tallis soothes over it with his companionable writing style. The Incurable Romantic makes for a great coffee table book that is just different enough to spark interesting conversations.

This non-fiction has the right balance of psychological / psychiatric theories, actual case studies, the perceptions of the treating doctor, and a well-written prose. It will put you in a reflective mood, against your better judgement!

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Loved it. And all the best to the doctor looking out the window at a stale surrounding.

A wild, riveting reading about how love has the ability to drive people mad...literally. There were so many stories where my jaw dropped to the ground and I could not believe what I was reading was true, even though it was. A fascinating page turner.

I received this book in exchange for a honest review.

I love psychology, so when I saw this book on Netgalley I knew it was a match made in heaven. I’ve never been a “romantic” myself, so I was curious what psychological issues would arise from the research into romance and love. Boy did this book deliver. The book details personal experiences of the author and psychologist, with patients he has had over the years with myriad different mental and psychology disorders related to romance, love and attraction.

We hear about a woman who wakes up from a normal dental procedure to find she is in love with her dentist, and she knows that he is in love with her too. Without any sort of inclination to indicate as such, and in fact multiple requests from the dentist for her to leave him and his family alone. A woman with no history of mental illness and who insists she is still very much in love with her husband. But is obsessed over the love that she believes is shared between her and her dentist and the dentist’s unwillingness to admit his feelings.

We also get stories involving a man obsessed with the feeling of someone falling in love with him; a woman who drives away every man she’s ever loved with pathological jealousy. And, much to the dismay of many who want to read this, we also get a glimpse into the psyche of a man who is notably a pedophile, who understands his desires are wrong and works to accept the fact that he will never be able to be in a loving mutual relationship.

Frank Tallis is everything you would want in a psychologist. He is sympathetic and non-judgmental, even when his base beliefs would promote otherwise. His candid but sensitive recounting of his patients and their problems was done with a scientific approach and he remained a clinical observer throughout. Neither promoting or condemning the actions of those who sought his help. I was thoroughly taken with this book and definitely see myself reading it again in the future.

Received via Netgalley. I have provided a truthful review of my own accord, and it reflects my opinion alone.

I went into this expecting a few amusing stories, but was very pleased to discover instead fairly in-depth explorations of 12 different psychological cases, some unusual and some a bit more common. From a woman convinced that her dentist is deeply in love with her to a man who has visited thousands of prostitutes over the course of a few months, every case presents something utterly foreign and fascinating - and Frank Tallis manages to present each story with understanding, empathy, and reflection. Really fascinating and well written book - enough so that I immediately started looking for other books of his.

I really enjoyed this collection of case studies on the intricacies and impacts on love on a person's mental health (and vice versa). The author's writing style lends itself well to conveying the details to the reader; the language he uses is never over the top clinical, but it doesn't feel like he's dumbing things down for the reader either. I've read other books by psychologists and doctors where the tone is so superior that it really took me out of the book, despite the content being interesting. This isn't the case at all here. The case studies and vignettes read like short stories rather than intense clinical analyses of the patients, making for a very enjoyable read. I appreciated that the author provided just enough historical context to bring the reader deeper into each case, without bogging it down or making it feel dry. This is a great example of medical writing that doesn't FEEL clinical, and I have a feeling a good deal of that has to do with the author's experience as a novelist as well. I'll definitely be checking out some of his fiction, as I really enjoyed his writing style here.

I very much enjoyed this fascinating book on the psychoanalysis of love - it manages to be entertaining, interesting and easy to read. Not being a student of psychoanalysis, I would have struggled with an academic text, whereas this book is easy to understand for the average layperson.
The author is a skilled writer, explaining complex concepts and still weaving an interesting and compelling story about each of the patients who presented with some type of mental illness directly related to the concept of love.
He makes a compellong argument for love (and its side effects) to be treated seriously, as it has seriously affected those in his care.
This book stands out, I would compare it to Oliver Sachs 'The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat', another fascinating roundup of the more complex and bizarre pathologies our strange brains may be effected with.
Highly recommended.

Love....is nuts. While the idea of being in love brings about the movie ideal, with flowers and kisses and romance...love, itself, makes people do crazy things. Think about the lady who drove across the country, wearing a diaper, to track down her former lover.

Frank Tallis has taken this idea of love and all it's craziness and researched it's insanity and put his finding into this book. It's not a easy read, this isn't fairy tales. This is stories of people who had to leave countries to escape stranger who think they are in love.

This isn't a easy read, and parts are a little boring, but Tallis does have a good argument. Love isn't a silly phrase, it's a sickness, for better or for worse.

In the nonfiction book, The Incurable Romantic: and Other Unsettling Revelations author Frank Tallis, a clinical psychologist, writes about the neuroscience of love as a skilled storyteller pulling from his patient files to explain how “falling in love is a combustible state that reproduces the symptoms of psychiatric illness.”

I think this should be mandatory reading as a Relationship 101 guide to understanding the biochemistry behind emotions, in particular love and all of its related feelings—lust, passion, attachment, and jealousy.

Love has been romanticized and monetized in our culture to the point that we are all “Incurable Romantics” buying into the fairytale of forever-sustaining lust, passion and adulation.

Tallis argues that being “lovesick” is a real ailment with emotional and physical symptoms and highlights several patient cases that illustrate his point.

Educational, entertaining and enthralling, The Incurable Romantic is the best book I’ve read thus far on explaining love not as a solely an emotion but also rooted in biochemical reactions. I highly recommend this book as a starting point for examining and understanding our own emotions and behaviors when it comes to love.

My takeaway from The Incurable Romantic— Biochemistry is complex. Novelty is a powerful aphrodisiac. Tallis says that our genes want us to love madly but inevitably when passion wanes or a relationship ends, what remains is our ability to understand the evolutionary imperative and prevent biochemistry from overshadowing our sense of reason.

I really enjoyed this text. I think I will use it in the classroom because I think it could be paired with films and supplemental readings to create a romance theme that analyzes the way we look at love. I think that might be a fun theme for English Composition.

Really interesting case studies on romantic love. Sobering and a bit dark at time but fascinating.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I am a little upset that I didn't like this book. Technically, it has everything I usually like: talks about real people, has some history of mental health, has other interesting things thrown here and there. All of that should have solidify a good rating from me. But it didn't...I didn't like the writing and couldn't connect with it at all. Half the time I felt like the author was making fun of people he was supposed to be helping and other times it felt like I was being lectured at. Reading session notes, as entertaining as some of them were, made me feel like I was reading someone's diary and I felt a little dirty for violating their privacy.

Although I have never studied it in a classroom, I have long been interested in psychology and theories of personality, and have done some reading on the topic. Therefore, The Incurable Romantic appealed to me as soon as I saw it on NetGalley. It was certainly an intriguing read. I enjoyed how the case studies each presented a very different take on the psychology behind love, and these were nicely balanced with Tallis' recollections and anecdotes. This is a book that can be easily read by layperson or expert alike, and it offers a fascinating insight into how the human brain processes the idea of love. The Incurable Romantic was a 4.5 star read for me.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you! All opinions are my own.

The Incurable Romantic tells the stories of patients whose love/desire/obsession has become problematic for them (and often others). This is mostly a sympathetic collection of tales of mental illness related to romantic and/or sexual feelings (not love), but it leaves you thinking when love actually crosses the line to madness. I think there is no easy answer.

Overall quite an interesting read, I'm intrigued.

I have always been fascinated with psychology. Taking many courses in college peaked my interest. I wanted to read this book because discovering the ways in which people obsess about love interests me. This book didn't disappoint. It offered that and so much more. I was so glad that I was able to read this on NetGalley. This non-fiction book could have easily been Lifetime movies. It was sad but true. Who knows what goes on in the mind of others who live in fantasies in their head.