Eli Finkel: Marriage Is Dead, Long Live Marriage (Bonus Episode)

Explicit content warning

12/28/17 • 45 min

In this bonus episode of Simplify season 2, we talk with Eli Finkel. Finkel is a writer and social psychologist at Northwestern University. He's also the author of the new book The All-or-Nothing Marriage.

On this episode, Caitlin Schiller talks to Finkel about where the ideas in the book came from. Finkel explains how he discovered that marriage is tied to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: throughout history, the main purpose of marriage was tied to survival, but today we’re asking for much more. We want our marriage to make us better people; to help us realize our best selves.

He and Caitlin dive into social psychology, long-term passion, and a couple of “love hacks” that can get you and your partner back on track.

After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler and Emily Phillips discuss the key takeaways of the interview and make a booklist for anyone who wants to read more about changing your mindset (which has more to do with good relationships than you think!).

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-marriage-eli-finkel.

Quick reminder: This season, we are collecting your voices! It's not as creepy as it sounds, we promise. We just would love to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?” You can just record your answer with any voice memo app and email it to us at [email protected].

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

He and Caitlin dive into social psychology, long-term passion, and a couple of “love hacks” that can get you and your partner back on track.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-marriage-eli-finkel.

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

Previous Episode

Rebecca Traister: The Power of Being Single

Rebecca Traister is an author and writer-at-large for New York Magazine. She writes about women, culture, and politics, and her most recent book is All The Single Ladies.

On this episode of Simplify, Traister and Caitlin Schiller discuss the larger meaning of singlehood, why marriage doesn’t make any sense anymore, and the one thing that attracts the most single-ladies. It's part Traister's story, part journalism, part history, and part crazy clever idea-connecting.

After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to discuss the key takeaways of the interview and make a booklist for anyone who wants to read more about this.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-singlehood-feminist-writer-rebecca-traister-power-single.

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

Next Episode

Simplify’s 2017 Sampler Episode

What’s better than getting to the heart of a great idea? Getting to the heart of seven great ideas in under 40 minutes—which is exactly what happens in this best-of episode.

Hear from Simplify Season 1 and 2’s most beloved guests, including Seth Godin, David Allen, Dan Savage, Jaclyn Friedman, Ryan Holiday, and more. And stick around after the last interview’s rolled to hear hosts Ben Schuman-Stoler and Caitlin Schiller share a very special Bookend—plus some quality overshares from their lives.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-everything-simplifys-2017-sampler-episode.

Quick reminder: Great news: Simplify will be back! In preparation for Season 3, we’re collecting your voices. We’d love to hear how you answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much simpler than you initially thought it was?” Just record your answer with a voice memo app of your choice and then email it to us at [email protected].

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @caitlinschiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.