Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs (2004, Hardcover)

This book was really a life changer for my husband and I because it changed my perspective. I laugh now for not realizing something as important as respect could be a driving force behind a man's character, or lack of, but now I have changed the way I act. Before, I was always guilty of slandering my spouse with statements like, "Ah, you never do anything right." and then wondering why he didn't respond to me like when we first met. The truth is some people may find ideas in this book a little archaic because the book preaches women need love and men need respect - and some people find that offensive, but I looked deeper past my own ego and realized it is very true. My marriage has been a lot better since I read this book in 2004 when it was first released. I would recommend this book to any married couple in the hopes it could provide you with the same wisdom it gave me. Just to give you an example of what I liked about it, there is one part where the couple is fighting, she is yelling at him and he is sitting there silent, the more she yells, the more silent he becomes until finally he gets up and leaves. The book explains this behavior from both sides, and maybe it touched me so much because it had happened in my life and I THOUGHT I understood but I didn't. The woman was screaming because she desired a response, she wanted to talk and screaming was her way of trying to raise emotion from the man, whereas the man doesn't want to scream at her because he is trying to respect her. It explains it more thoroughly but that is just a quick taste.