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Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

A Tamil American by birth, Aziz is a stand up comedian (I don't know too many successful ones that tell jokes sitting down) who is also a moderately famous actor on television.  With this maiden book he is now also an author.

It is a borderline funny but fairly insightful, researched discussion on how the notion of love and romance has changed since our grandparents got together to eventually create us.  Of course the big deal is people did not really think or know how to define things like romance, soul mate, et al but simply figured out a way to procreate to address a functional need.  

The book narrates feedback from actual surveys and polls conducted by Aziz and Eric (a doctoral student) along with interviews with some well known psychologists and people who know what they (think) are talking about when it comes to relationships.

Sprinkled with one liners and observations from his own life including use or abuse of technology to drive meaning and sense of what someone said or did is hilarious.

Language does get bawdy or pulpy as you read through but he has smartly incorporated disclaimers to point out that those are his writing and let the pros sound off without any sexual or perverse innuendo.

If you have found your soul mate excellent - this will be a good one to compare notes.

If you are still looking - who knows - it would not hurt to grab a copy from your library and see if it lives up to an alternate title of a self help guide.


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