In this book, the author sets out a methodology for achieving happy marriage.
He starts off by noting that nowadays marriages typically breakup after about three years. Even if you remain married, affection between the two of you has died.
He sets out in two chapters exactly what are the characteristics of the man or the woman who will suit you. He believes that if you do not marry someone with these characteristics, you will not have a happy marriage.
Next, he believes that love and idealism are not enough to guarantee marital success. You need to work at it. But, you need to know exactly what to work at. Working without knowing what to do is at best a random process and almost always does not generate happiness. The things you need to work at are described in what he terms the "marital agreement" or the marital contract.
Once you have a place an agreement and further an agreement about what each of you do then he suggests that you should work slowly, step-by-step to achieve marital bliss. He describes what could be called a "low-risk strategy" but he believes that this strategy also achieves wonderful happiness in the normal course of events.
The current hit and miss approaches to marriage are high-risk, low reward. You may marry the right person or the wrong person. You do not know what you should do for marital happiness. Even if you work hard in your marriage, the chances are that your work is wasted.
The author believes that whilst there is a role, a strong role for romanticism, there is also an even bigger role for science. Thinking things through properly and not being carried away with emotionality, love and romantic fiction.
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