Take My Advice (I'm Not Using It)

A (reluctant) relationship columnist for The Wall Street Journal spills the best of what she’s learned and what experts say about love, sex, friendships, and family.

Why do some relationships thrive while others crash and burn? This billion-dollar question is what Elizabeth Bernstein, relationship columnist extraordinaire, has spent the last two decades researching–partly because she desperately needed the advice herself, after struggling with a messy divorce. Throughout her reporting, she used herself as a guinea pig, trying to implement the best relationship practices she learned in her own life. In this book, she gathers the very best, hard-earned relationship advice she’s learned to share with you, dear reader. In Take My Advice (I’m Not Using It), Bernstein offers wise, well-founded advice that is urgently needed. We’re never formally taught about relationships, no school classes to take on how to choose the right friends or mate, how to communicate, how to resolve conflict, how to love. When things go wrong, most people seek help too late. This book is the remedy. In it, Bernstein answers burning questions such as: “I love my spouse. Can you please tell me how I can become attracted again?” and “How do I know if my marriage is over?" and “How do we rebuild trust?” This humorous memoir takes us on Bernstein’s quest to find herself after her divorce and shares the best research and advice she’s discovered for how to build and maintain love of all kinds—including with yourself.