Fast approaching the age when bachelors go from seeming curious to seeming weird, Oscar-nominated documentarian Dana Adam Shapiro set out across the country with a tape recorder in search of modern answers to an age-old question:

Why does love die—and what can we do to prevent it from happening?

It all began as a self-help journey in the purest sense. A serial monogamist for more than two decades, Shapiro wanted to know why the honeymoon phase of his relationships never lasted until the actual honeymoon. Believing that you learn more from failure than from success, he spent the next three years criss­crossing the country with a tape recorder, interviewing hundreds of divorced people, hoping to become so fluent in the errors of Eros that he would be able to avoid them in his own love life—and one day be a better husband.

The result is a timely treasure trove of marital wisdom that is as racy as it is revelatory. Shockingly intimate and profoundly personal, this is a page-turning, voyeuristic investigation of modern love and a practical guide for any couple looking to beat the roulette-wheel odds of actually staying together forever.