'What our world needs most of all today is love… because the deepest, albeit often unacknowledged, human longing of our time is the longing for true love.' – Pietro Archiati

The word love has become so hackneyed that it can mean almost anything. Yet the concept or idea of love remains one of most unfathomable mysteries of human life. Here, in five carefully sculpted chapters, Pietro Archiati takes up the challenge to illuminate and expand upon our understanding of this most fundamental and unique quality of human existence, beginning with the great themes of 'Love and Hate' – the 'salt and pepper of life' – and concluding with 'Realism and Idealism': Is it really possible to love the whole of humanity? And, how do we balance individual freedom with the ideal of fraternity?

Along this journey, the author asks and addresses numerous questions, such as: What are the causes of sympathy and antipathy, and is love more than a feeling? What do masculine and feminine really mean today, and what role does sexuality play in freedom? What value is the heart without the head (and the head without the heart)? And what do the great religions – in particular, Islam and Christianity – have to say on these subjects? Archiati tackles the difficult and problematic topics of 'Love and Sexuality', 'Love and Death' and 'Love and Reason'. As a special focus, he investigates 'the logic of the heart' and what it can mean for humanity's future development.