HEARTBREAK: A Personal and Scientific Journey by Florence Williams - Review & Giveaway

 

We've all experienced heartbreak, perhaps the death of a child or spouse, maybe a divorce. If not, well, lucky you! Until now heartbreak has been defined by grief, loneliness, no sleep, anxiety, depression, loss of cognitive skills and death. When Florence Williams' husband leaves her at fifty, she wants to uncover the scientific reason why she's feeling so much physical pain. She investigates in her book, HEARTBREAK: A Personal and Scientific Journey (WWNorton&Co.). In the past people experiencing heartbreak have been told to love yourself, don't form attachments too quickly and move on, but that's not Williams' findings. She calls heartbreak one of the "hidden mines of human existence."

Williams goes on a long journey to scientifically find how her body's genes experience life before, during and after heartbreak, particularly after. She finds 3 - 4 years after her divorce, she experiences emotional and physical health. The "cure" for her is nature and because she's fit, her body is able to fight off bad cells and withstand the trauma.

Heartbreak can't be bandaged and cured. It's a bruise of the brain. It never disappears, it leaves us altered. The bottom line of surviving heartbreak: Expect to suffer, you can't run away and hide from it, let it take control, then wait. Eventually, don't know when, but it'll  eventually lessen.

Florence Williams is a journalist, author, and podcaster. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Review of Books, Slate, Mother Jones and numerous other publications. She is also the writer and host of two Gracie-Award-winning Audible Original series, Breasts Unbound and The Three-Day Effect, as well as Outside Magazine’s Double-X Factor podcast. Her public speaking includes keynotes at Google, the Smithsonian, the Seattle Zoo, the Aspen Ideas Festival and many other corporate, academic and nonprofit venues.

She land her family live in Washington DC.

Thanks to W.W. Norton we have one copy to giveaway. Just tell us if you've ever experienced heartbreak. I certainly have. We'll announce a winner soon. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USE only please.