What Love Is

And What It Could Be

By: Carrie Jenkins

Narrated by: Carrie Jenkins

Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

What is love? Aside from being the title of many a popular love song, this is one of life's perennial questions. In What Love Is, philosopher Carrie Jenkins offers a bold new theory on the nature of romantic love that reconciles its humanistic and scientific components. Love can be a social construct (the idea of a perfect fairy-tale romance) and a physical manifestation (those anxiety-inducing heart palpitations); we must recognize its complexities and decide for ourselves how to love. Motivated by her own polyamorous relationships, she examines the ways in which our parameters of love have recently changed - to be more accepting of homosexual, interracial, and nonmonogamous relationships - and how they will continue to evolve in the future. Full of anecdotal, cultural, and scientific reflections on love, What Love Is is essential listening for anyone seeking to understand what it means to say "I love you". Whether young or old, gay or straight, male or female, polyamorous or monogamous, this audiobook will help each of us decide for ourselves how we choose to love.

©2017 Caroline Susanne Jenkins (P)2017 Gildan Media LLC

I guess you could say I loved it

This proved a lot of confirmation bias for me, but it was a wonderful introduction to a philosopher who I’d not heard of but very much enjoyed their presentation. Topics of societal expectations, gender norms, non-hetero-normative relationships, and why the idea of love has changed over several millennia. I’m excited to see more work from Dr. Jenkins.

Fantastic Philosophical Discussion

Very good discussion of love and what it is. I liked the fact that the Jenkins discussed the biological theories of romantic love as well as the social construct, and how the social construct has evolved over time. A very interesting read/listen!

So good!

Well researched and very smart. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to dig in deeper to what love is (and what it could be).

LOVE Love

I LOVE this book! she definitely brings a new view of what love is on the table!

Towards a deep understanding of love

Carrie Jenkins narration contributes context to her written exploration of the nature of love that culminates in a comprehensive transfer of her findings from years of researching and practicing a holistic ideal of love to the reader. The book will resonate with readers of all backgrounds and disciplines as it approaches love from biological, practical, anthropological, philosophical, and lived experience perspectives. For anyone seeking to grow in love, this illuminative book will help you to realize a more truly loving way of being.

What Philosophy Is and What It Could Be

What Love Is and What It Could Be is a much needed essay by a contemporary philosopher toward an outline of a theory of romantic love.  

As an analytic philosopher Jenkins is not satisfied with what she refers to as the "romantic mystique", a kind of halo that has been placed around the topic of love that discourages examination. In this book the author lifts that shroud and in the process, shows us that our notions of romantic love are long overdue for questioning.  


The theory of romantic love Dr. Jenkins outlines is balanced and inclusive. While the book is ostensibly a defense of polyamory, (the approach to romantic love that supports multiple partners), Jenkin's theory of love embraces heteronormative realationships (traditional heterosexual, monogamous) and others as well.  While this book will undoubtedly be very popular with polyamorists, it contains plenty of interest for the thoughtful heteronormative listener open to questioning their basic assumptions about romantic love, where it comes from, and where it might take us.

An added bonus is the fact that this book is read by the author herself. Those who appreciate philosophical audiobooks will be all too familiar with the aggravation of listening to a book read by someone with a very impressive voice and a tragic lack of understanding of the text. This book is not affected by that problem and listeners will find that it's enjoyment is greatly enhanced by Dr. Jenkins thoughtful reading.

A much needed conversation

We need a more expansive understanding of love that is not shaped by patriarchal, capitalist motives. At one point she asks a framing question that got my attention: which driver is more worthy of protecting - jealousy or love?

Interesting Philosophy, Weak Delivery

The author is a philosopher, not a writer, so spends a considerable amount of energy pandering to philosophical history - as if her audience was other philosophy professors, and maybe it was.

I’m deeply interested in an intellectual understanding of love and this was barely worth my time.

The conclusion/outro was nice though.

Poly book

Polyamorous book disguised as love book. If you want anything about love history, science, or just general relationship advice, this it not.