Why Love Matters

By Sue Gerhardt,

Book cover of Why Love Matters: How affection shapes a baby's brain

Book description

Why Love Matters explains why loving relationships are essential to brain development in the early years, and how these early interactions can have lasting consequences for future emotional and physical health. This second edition follows on from the success of the first, updating the scientific research, covering recent findings in…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Why Love Matters as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

When dealing with difficult behaviour, it can help to understand how your kids’ early experiences may have influenced their emotional landscape.

Sue Gerhardt's book draws on recent developments in neuroscience and developmental psychology to explain how babies’ brains are formed. She shows us that our early, fumbling parental mistakes can have consequences that play out over a lifetime.

As a working parent, I found it a sobering read–Gerhardt pulls no punches about the potentially damaging impact of putting your one-year-old in nursery, for example. But ultimately, the book is so persuasive that it feels worth facing up to these tough…

If you love Why Love Matters...

Ad

Book cover of This Animal Body

This Animal Body by Meredith Walters,

Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life together—she’s determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuse…

Want books like Why Love Matters?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Why Love Matters.

Browse books like Why Love Matters

Book cover of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)
Book cover of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Book cover of Life with Full Attention: A Practical Course in Mindfulness

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,843

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Why Love Matters, you might also like...

Book cover of Traumatization and Its Aftermath: A Systemic Approach to Understanding and Treating Trauma Disorders

Traumatization and Its Aftermath by Antonieta Contreras,

A fresh take on the difference between trauma and hardship in order to help accurately spot the difference and avoid over-generalizations.

The book integrates the latest findings in brain science, child development, psycho-social context, theory, and clinical experiences to make the case that trauma is much more than a cluster…

Book cover of Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams - 99 Stories from Families Who Did

Raising an Entrepreneur by Margot Machol Bisnow,

This book shakes longstanding assumptions of parenting.

Through 99 stories of people who are now changing the world, it shows how to raise creative, confident, resilient children who are filled with joy and purpose. Based on interviews with top entrepreneurs and their parents, it guides you to help your children…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the brain, physiology, and presidential biography?

The Brain 170 books
Physiology 89 books