Book Review: The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert

What really makes a marriage work?

That’s a question that’s been asked for as long as marriage has been practiced. While men and women continue to have no trouble falling in love, keeping that love going seems to be a hit and miss strategy.

In his book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, renowned relationship expert Dr. John M. Gottman uses scientific research to form the seven basic principles that enable couples to keep their relationship strong.

Creating what Dr. Gottman refers to as the “Love Lab”, he and his team studied thousands of couples in a fabricated living facility to study their habits and interactions. The result was some astonishing statistics that enabled Dr. Gottman to predict with 91% accuracy whether a marriage would succeed or fail.

The secret? Dr. Gottman believes that happy marriages rely heavily on what he refers to as emotional intelligence, that is – the couple’s ability to understand, honor and respect each other.

Using this theory, Dr. Gottman created his seven principles to help couples strengthen their relationship and ultimately, avoid divorce court.

In this fascinating book, you will learn:

• The two kinds of marital conflict and how to deal with them both
• The four not-so-obvious sign of a troubled relationship
• Why communication isn’t always the most important factor in a healthy relationship
• How to cope with differences and strengthen your marriage
• How to live with “unsolvable” problems

“My goal has been nothing more ambitious than to uncover the truth about marriage,” Gottman writes. “To finally answer the questions that have puzzled people for so long: Why is marriage so tough at times? Why do some lifelong relationships click while others just tick away like a time bomb? And how can you prevent a marriage from going bad-or rescue one that already has?”

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work address the key aspects of any relationship and teaches couples to work on the things they can change and learn to recognize and accept the things they can’t.

The book also includes a number of quizzes, exercises and checklists so that couples can immediately begin practicing Dr. Gottman’s Love Lab teachings.

Published by Three Rivers Press, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is a refreshing look at the dynamics of relationships and the solutions for making them better.