The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier, Happier, and Smarter Audiobook

Quotes

• “A terrific book…Susan Pinker makes a hardheaded case for a softhearted virtue. Read this book. Then talk about it—in person!—with a friend.”

  — Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive

• Donna Postel gives a solid narration of this timely exhortation to strengthen our personal relationships in an age in which many of us find ourselves hiding behind the screens of our various forms of technology.

  — AudioFile

• “What do Sardinian men, Trader Joe’s employees, and nuns have in common? Real social networks—though not the kind you’ll find on Facebook or Twitter. Susan Pinker’s delightful book shows why face-to-face interaction at home, school, and work makes us healthier, smarter, and more successful.”

  — Charles Duhigg, New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Habit

• “The Village Effect is a fascinating explanation of why we need regular contact with people, not just screens—and why time spent with your neighbors will enrich and extend your life in ways you never imagined.”

  — John Tierney, New York Times bestselling co-author of Willpower

• “How many of us recognize that the simple face-to-face contact that our ancestors took for granted can enhance our lives? Susan Pinker’s The Village Effect uses recent findings from social psychology and other research to demonstrate that even hanging out with your best buds or chatting with your Significant Other has hidden benefits that can lengthen your life and lessen your stress.”

  — Barnes&Noble.com, editorial review

• “The benefits of the digital age have been oversold. Or to put it another way: there is plenty of life left in face-to-face, human interaction. That is the message emerging from this entertaining book by Susan Pinker, a Canadian psychologist. Citing a wealth of research and reinforced with her own arguments, Pinker suggests we should make an effort—at work and in our private lives—to promote greater levels of personal intimacy.”

  — Financial Times (London)

• “Drawing on scores of psychological and sociological studies, [Pinker] suggests that living as our ancestors did, steeped in face-to-face contact and physical proximity, is the key to health, while loneliness is ‘less an exalted existential state than a public health risk.’ That her point is fairly obvious doesn’t diminish its importance; smart readers will take the book out to a park to enjoy in the company of others.”

  — Boston Globe

• “Pinker explores the powerful effects of face-to-face contact in our increasingly computer-mediated world…Serves as a hopeful, warm guide to living more intimately in an disconnected era.”

  — Publishers Weekly

• “Provocative and engaging…Pinker is a great storyteller and a thoughtful scholar. This is an important book, one that will shape how we think about the increasingly virtual world we all live in.”

  — Paul Bloom, author of Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil

• “A fascinating, nuanced study of that most fundamental need: the need for human connection.”

  — Maria Konnikova, author of Mastermind: How to Think like Sherlock Holmes

• “With a raft of surprising data, this compulsively readable, lively and meticulously researched book shows that direct and frequent human contact is at least as important to our survival as clean air or good nutrition.”

  — Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today

• “Donna Postel gives a solid narration of this timely exhortation to strengthen our personal relationships in an age in which many of us find ourselves hiding behind the screens of our various forms of technology…Postel’s pacing is easy to follow, and her voicing is clear, albeit sometimes lacking a degree of variation that would liven things up a bit. Ultimately, her performance is good, allowing the material speak for itself and underscoring the need for many of us to take a step back from our devices in order to cultivate relationships the old-fashioned way.”

  — AudioFile