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Modern Romance

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Modern Romance

By: Aziz Ansari
Narrated by: Aziz Ansari
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, audio download edition of Modern Romance, written and read by Aziz Ansari.

People today have more romantic options than at any point in human history, and thanks to social media, smartphones and online dating, our abilities to connect with these options are staggering. Yet we also have to face new and absurd dilemmas, such as what to think when someone doesn't reply to your text but has time to post a photo of a pizza on Instagram. But this transformation of our romantic lives cannot be explained by technology alone. Whereas once most people would find a decent person who probably lived in their neighbourhood and marry by the age of 23, today we spend years of our lives on a quest to find our soulmate.

While Ansari has long aimed his comedic insight at modern relationships, here he teamed up with award-winning sociologist Eric Klinenberg to research dating cultures from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Paris, crunch the quantitative data and interview some of the world's leading social scientists. The result is an unforgettable tour of the romantic landscape.

 Love, Dating & Attraction Performing Arts Relationships Sociology Inspiring Comedy Funny Dating Technology

Critic Reviews

Always-hilarious Aziz Ansari proves you can be smart and funny at the same time. Not only did I laugh my ass off, I really learned stuff. Where was this book when I was 22 years old? (Steve Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics)
Modern Romance is just like Aziz Ansari himself-charming, thoughtful, reasonable, and able to distill the madness of the world into something both sane and wildly funny
Laughing is my second least-favorite thing in the world after thinking. This book was torture. Not a page passed without an unwanted eruption of giggles or insight. Aziz is funny as hell, and smart as shit (Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Eating Animals)
It's the voices that will have you reading this remarkable book in one sitting! The voices of old people who married someone who lived in their apartment building or the building next door and the voices of the young people who check out hundreds of romantic possibilities a night, with so much choice that choice becomes impossible. And then there is the voice of Ansari himself, funny, of course, but also deeply compassionate. This book defines serious fun (Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of Alone Together and Reclaiming Conversation)
Ansari and Klinenberg elegantly capture the entirely new ways that singles communicate, court, and find love today. Modern Romance is a captivating read, with deep insight into history, science, and culture, and loads of wit and charm. Along the way, you may even collect some valuable tips for finding a soul mate (Helen Fisher, Senior Research Fellow, The Kinsey Institute; author of Why Him? Why Her?)
[Ansari and Klinenberg's] book presents all kinds of fun trivia about how the business of romance is conducted, as well as raising some interesting questions about how 21st-century humans form meaningful connections. If indeed they do. Ansari has pulled it off: a thinky book that's funny, too
All stars
Most relevant
Big fan of Aziz and his stand up, so having him read the book was a must buy. Thoroughly researched, interesting & laugh out loud funny.
Must read/ listen!

Quality

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Educational and hilarious! Aziz's performance was fantastic, his hilarity and gentle teasing of the audience made it something special. I highly recommend.

Loved it!

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This book was forwarded to me by a friend as a gift. I'd seen some of Aziz on Netflix as well as listening to some on Spotify. I, being a relatively successful middle class single male really get a lot out of this dude. My friend I think feels I need to move into the dating scene a bit more seriously. Not that I can't get dates, just that I don't really try, or am quite happily occupied with what already goes on around me. After listening to this though I believe I probably avoid dating which is sad. I'm awesome and have a lot to offer. Aziz's book Modern Romance is very well researched and takes a look at modern and historical dating from a variety of cultures. The biggest thing I got out of it is not to expect to have met the perfect chick on the first or second date, but that like with anything, perfection takes time and that is the same with people. Meet them 5 or 6 or 10 times before moving on. Or not moving on. I know this sounds simple, and it's something I've known. But it was good to hear it from someone as cool as Aziz.

Aziz as you'd expect

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So refreshing to read a celeb book about something other than themselves. This was interesting, relevant and hilarious. Highly recommend the audio book.

Aziz is hilarious

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I actually read this book, then upon discovering he narrates his own audiobook I decided to give this a whirl too. Funny it sounds outloud exactly like it does in your head when you read it.

The subject matter of this book is fresh and his perspective fresher, I feel like I learnt a lot about love and human interaction whilst it still being laugh out loudly funny.

A must!

A must listen for modern singles

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