The Art of Loving

Eric Fromm

Rating 1/5

This is a highly recommended book on relationships. The core tenet is that western individualism dictates that if you focus on being the best version of yourself, love will follow. However, this book argues that that is far from enough and one needs to be good at loving to find and keep love.

While that advice is useful, I felt that the book was fraught with homophobia and transphobia having been written in the 1950s. Additionally it talks about religion and what “God” intends from an Abrahamic religious perspective. As a skeptic of organized religion I did not agree with or relish that. It also talks about heterosexual love in terms of feminine and masculine energies which are derived from gender-normative perspectives and entrenched societal patriarchy. The substance of the book is less about being rooted in science or facts but merely proselytization on exiting beliefs about gender, religion and relationships.

TLDR: skip