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

I was motivated to read this book because when the author appeared on BBC radio to plug it, her thesis controverted what I've read elsewhere.Unfortunately the book misses the mark in one big respect - it does not distinguish between two very different arguments. (a) People vary in the social interactions they require for their physical and mental wellbeing. (b) People vary in the social interactions they THINK they require for their physical and mental wellbeing. Now I am quite prepared to accept that when someone is distressed by spending so much time on their own, then this is bad for them. I cannot however tell from this book if, when someone is very happy and contented with their own company, then they are somehow stacking up serious health problems. The author herself states (p.12) that a feeling of loneliness could be an early warning system - designed to get us to change our behaviour or environment. This is fair enough. But there are many people who spend lengthy periods alone, and yet do not feel lonely.The author mentions a well-known book, 'Solitude' by Anthony Storr, which subverts her own argument, and yet oddly she does not at all engage with it. Storr's thesis is that creative people are quite happy following their creative drives, thank you. Creative activities (musicianship, art, poems, novels, etc.) are predominantly solitary in nature - you don't write novels at night clubs, parties, barbecues or bowling alleys. For such persons, their creative works rather than their personal relationships are their primary source of self-esteem and fulfillment. (Edward Gibbon: 'Solitude is the school of genius.') The obvious approach would've been to establish whether creative persons tend to get ill more readily or die younger. This would be difficult to do in practical terms of course, but it would provide a way of testing her thesis. Pinker does not do this.Another way of testing her thesis is via personality trait. But the argument advanced (p.292) is not fully developed. The notion that introverts find it 'hard to initiate and cultivate relationships' confuses introversion ('not needing social interaction') with shyness ('fearful of social interaction'); a common error. In 'Personality - what makes you the way you are' by Daniel Nettle, it is alleged that, because of some unidentified lifestyle factor, and quite contrary to Pinker's findings, extroverts die younger than introverts. More fairly the argument could've been broadened out to include the other well-known personality traits - agreeableness, neuroticism, etc. Agreeableness is the better predictor for how relationships will go; as distinct from extroversion. Neuroticism, if we mean a 'tendency to worry' or 'to be anxious', I should've thought the best driver of morbidity and mortality - but this is not examined. Continual worrying will put the body in a chronically stressed state; this is a well-known heath predictor. The author's thesis would then reduce to simply this: loneliness causes stress, and stress causes illness. But not everyone gets stressed by being alone!The author says (p.291) that she's now changed her lifestyle, not staying at home and reading in the evening, but building in social activity, in the way we do exercise. But I find it difficult to believe that, if you're happy and contented when spending many hours on your own - tending to your garden, writing a novel, reading or listening to music, and multitudes of other activities, then you're somehow putting yourself in an early grave.Goals and motivations in life offer another angle to test the thesis. If I opened my eyes every morning and had no idea of how to occupy myself for the next sixteen hours, that would be quite different. The type of solitariness should be carefully qualified (p.315): coming and going as you please, should not be confused with solitary incarceration.The Sardinian mountain village (from which the book derives its title) is not to my mind a pleasant place. A man cannot go about his affairs without curtains twitching, and having his private comings and goings gossiped about. For me that would be a stressful and not stress-free environment.

I thought this was a most interesting book but I felt it was over long and could easily have been editied down a bit. Once the point was made I thought it was then laboured as if she wanted to include every bit of research she had ever done. (It is clear that she has done an enormous amount of research.) so I would recommend it but wished she had been more succinct.

A good argument that although the internet is, on balance, a good thing, it is no substitute for face to face communication. I did feel the book was more a prolonged essay I.e.it did not merit being such an long book.

Excellent read and makes perfect sense, this book should be compulsory reading for all social workers, health care and care staff working with people with learning disabilities

A synthesis of a variety of research into why some communities don' t seem to suffer from the high levels of dementia spectrum illnesses in old age which we do. Well written in accessible language for the lay person.

I was so impressed with this book, that I persuaded my women's group to all read it and we will be discussing it in February.

Excellent in depth and intuitive and insightful read

Very good

A sociabilidade "protegida" favorece a longevidade como já se observara ,há muito tempo, no interior da antiga União Soviética.Espero publicar livro, este ano, onde demonstro que todos transtornos psiquiátricos tem origem na percepção distorcida do contato social. Daí a explicação do crimes imotivados(vide o ocorrido em Las Vegas, recentemente), o porquê do bullying, da fobia social e do aumento da doença psiquiátrica..Sou psiquiatra e pesquiso há 40 anos a percepção distorcida do contato social.Dr. Durval Duarte Sobrinho.

Susan Pinker's trademark thorough research and engaging prose make The Village Effect hard to put down. I have a particular interest in many of the ideas she touches on, but the content is so relevant and fundamental to life in the current age that I can't imagine anyone who will not find it totally absorbing. I will be giving a few copies as Christmas presents.

A very insightful book that describes the importance of meaningful face-to-face relationships at all stages of one's life. It is written in a very easy to read manner. It will definitely make you think about how you spend your time and how you can possibly integrate more interpersonal time into your life. The benefits, as described, are potentially very significant.

Menschen, die sich kennen, entwickeln eine eigene Sprache und eine Vertrautheit, die eben vor allem in dörflichen Gesellschaften zu finden sind - oder in Großstädten in Vierteln, Gemeinden und anderen dorfähnlichen Strukturen.

Everyone should read this book