At long last, social connection is recognized as critical to wellness and longevity. She meets scientists at the frontiers of brain and genetics research and discovers that friendship is reflected in our brain waves, our genomes, and our cardiovascular and immune systems its opposite, loneliness, can kill. Denworth sees this urge to connect reflected in primates, too, taking us to a monkey sanctuary in Puerto Rico and a baboon colony in Kenya to examine social bonds that offer insight into our own. She finds friendship to be as old as early life on the African savannas―when tribes of people grew large enough for individuals to seek fulfillment of their social needs outside their immediate families. In Friendship, science journalist Lydia Denworth takes us in search of friendship’s biological, psychological, and evolutionary foundations. But what makes these bonds not just pleasant but essential, and how do they affect our bodies and our minds?

Friends, after all, are the family we choose. The phenomenon of friendship is universal and elemental. All are welcome!Ī revelatory investigation of friendship, with profound implications for our understanding of what humans and animals alike need to thrive across a lifetime. PWN: FRIENDSHIP WITH AUTHOR LYDIA DENWORTH '88 - FEBRUPlease join the Princeton Women's Network (PWN) for a wonderful discussion on Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bondwith author Lydia Denworth '88. Working on the book has revitalized Lydia's appreciation for friendship and quality relationships, and we hope it will do the same for you.

Friendship by Lydia Denworth