You Can Count on Cupid: Uncovering Love by the Numbers, from the First Date, to the Seven-Year Itch, to Forever After

Readers who know and love Dillner's advice column in the Guardian should appreciate this compilation of relationship questions and answers, but newcomers may find her an unpredictable source of advice and information. In themed chapters, Dillner covers the spectrum of love questions, from the science of pick up lines to the perennial fight over the remote control to the stress of ""empty nest syndrome."" Dillner frequently cites research and studies, from sources as varied as the ""International Association for Relationship Research"" to ""101 dating couples at the University of Illinois,"" but just as frequently tosses off opinions that are flippant, unfounded or just unhelpful (""Most women whose husbands come out have no idea they are gay,"" ""Some women are more likely to keep their own surname than others""). Though the piecemeal newspaper column approach doesn't add up to a satisfying full-length reading experience, Dillner does cover an impressive array of topics, from pornography use to ""surviving children"" to dealing with attractiveness discrepancy.