Review: Why Him? Why Her?: Understanding Your Personality Type and Finding the Perfect Match

Why Him? Why Her? has two Why's in it because its alternative title is "Why 2: The Sequel to Why We Love?"

Helen Fisher's sequel to Why We Love has all the same characteristics of the original book: an extraordinary amount of cultural references combined with many academic references to psychological and anthropological studies. In my opinion, she is more careful to address issues with transexuals and homosexuals than she was in her first book. However, unlike her first book she is not laying out her case descriptive case for love, but a prescriptive case. "If ... Then ..." is sort of the underlying point of the entire book. If you're a director, to x y and z to get a good relationship with a negotiator. Or, lets say "if you're a explorer in a relationship with a builder, then you should focus on matching your zaniness to their sturdiness."

The one questionable thing about the book really is the premise of personality types. Like: "it can't be that simple and the exact hormone/neurotransmitter relationships aren't really explained!" Fisher uses historical references- to Greek and Native American personality types- to try to shore up these divisions. The appendix includes some of the data from her Chemistry.com data, which, I suppose, does mean /something/ is going on here. But obviously it isn't very set in stone, and Fisher thankfully makes that clear. Instead of saying, "If my quiz says this, then you must date this" she talks about how best to deal with those around you.