Romance unsaid, not dead

Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel will be published in Australia soon.  (I know; it's yesterday's news in the U.S., but we get everything non-Australian very late...and often at twice the price.)  This book caused quite an uproar when it was published late last year in the U.S.  While its target audience is, presumably from the image on the cover and from what I've read about it and Ms Perel, Western heterosexual couples, it is nevertheless very intriguing.  Aside from the immediate, vaguely prurient notion of bringing "The Third" into a relationship [sidebar: she does NOT promulgate infidelity], there are other juicy ideas presented.  The one that I find particularly interesting is the notion that couples can be too close in some ways.  (Paraphrase alert!)  Revealing every niggling detail about a person's day, such as activities, phone calls, e-mails, meals, etc., can be cloying and reduce intimacy.  We must maintain a little secrecy ("distance") in our lives, in order to keep from smothering the embers of true intimacy, romance and desire.  What do you think?

Here's an interview with Ms Perel by Brian Lehrer of New York Public Radio:

And now, from the Vault of Strange Advertising:

How are you holding up?