In the film, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Barbra Streisand mentions the emergence of courtly love. In the following audio lecture Alan Watts identifies the same thing and expands on the link between marriage and romantic love and points to the French Troubadours 800 years ago. Here’s some more background on this view:

Now my favourite book about love is this amazing book by Italian journalist and Professor in Sociology, Francesco Alberoni, 77 years old and still going strong. You can download a free English edition of his best selling “Falling in Love.

How important do you think romantic love is for a man vs. a woman?