4 out of 4 stars
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Love De-Coded by Stefan Deutsch was previously titled I Know You Love Me and You Know I Love You: Fulfill the Potential of Your Relationships with the Most Powerful Words on the Planet. It is a non-fiction relationship improvement guide focused on love as a basic nourishing element of life. The author, born in Hungary, immigrated to America after he and his parents fled communism to become refugees in Austria. Before that, Nazis killed many of his family members during the WWII era. Surviving these events helped guide him to a career in psychiatry and shaped his outlook on life and love. Deutsch developed The Human Development Company, founded Impact on Hunger, and serves as a guide on relationships for couples of all types. This book focuses on improving relationships, be they romantic, familial, or close friendships. It is meant to be read and practiced as a couple, in the order it is presented. Each concept builds on previous concepts, and couples that experience the book as a whole together will be able to utilize the tools presented to strengthen their relationships.
Love De-Coded consists of three main parts. In Part I, the author explains his theory that, like water and food, love is an essential nutrient of life. He goes on to describe how unconditional love is necessary to establish, maintain, and grow a relationship. Having a vision helps you see the bigger picture and live more fully. This is also true in relationships. Partners who develop a vision can use it as a tool to help them experience and give unconditional love. Part II is called the Relationship Toolkit. It is focused on awareness, vision, communication, and unconditional love. Part III presents scenarios of real couples who are experiencing relationship issues. After the issues are presented, the reader is encouraged to use what s/he learned in the book and write down what s/he would suggest to the couple. Then, the author tells what the actual outcome is. The last chapter wraps up the book with a fun exercise, where partners can choose a movie from a list, watch it together, and then discuss the movie as it relates to a list of questions the author provides.
Throughout the book, the author has provided worksheets for partners to fill out together. For example, there is a personal love contract partners can sign that asks them to pledge their love and commitment to unconditional love for each other. Chapter 2 contains a worksheet for individuals to write down their loveable qualities to help nurture self-love. Chapter 4 has a definition of love exercise to help partners understand how each other defines love and what their expectations are.
This book is professionally written and edited. It contains no mechanical mistakes. It is easy to read and understand, and it is helpful for individuals and couples. The only suggestion for improvement I could offer would be to make the worksheets more professional looking by having them follow the same format and having headings on each sheet. Overall, though, I was extremely impressed by this book, and I think it will help countless couples work through rough spots or improve the relationships they have already established.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is well written, and it offers helpful advice in an easy to understand manner. I would recommend this book to couples who have trouble communicating, couples looking to improve their relationships, or individuals who are struggling to make changes in relationships in their lives.
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Love De-Coded (formerly 'I Know You Love Me And You Know I Love You")
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this book sounds amazing. Your review of it is fantastic, and I especially like the part where you summarized the author's background. People have a tendency to not trust psychiatrists, but with a story like that, it is obvious that he pursued this path to help people and that makes his advice carry much more weight. Great job, Amybo!
