Your Cart ()
cload

GUARANTEED SAFE & SECURE CHECKOUT

Spend $x to Unlock Free Shipping to  

The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center - Paperback

$39.00
Checkout Secure
Only 3 left! .. people are viewing this, and 3 recently purchased it
Order in the next to get it by

Great reasons to buy from us:

  • Image of Changed your mind? Ordered the wrong thing? Simply return your item for a prompt exchange or refund.

    30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

    Changed your mind? Ordered the wrong thing? Simply return your item for a prompt exchange or refund.
  • Image of Enjoy free shipping when you spend over $70

    Free Shipping Over $70

    Enjoy free shipping when you spend over $70
  • Image of SSL Protected Checkout & Strongly Secure for Payments

    Secure Checkout

    SSL Protected Checkout & Strongly Secure for Payments
  • Image of Every order is a priority to us. We handle your order quickly to ensure you get your product fast.

    Fast Handling

    Every order is a priority to us. We handle your order quickly to ensure you get your product fast.

by Rhaina Cohen (Author)

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
AN INDIE BESTSELLER

"The Other Significant Others...fundamentally, it's become my new Bible." -- Trevor Noah
"An arresting work of compassion and insight." ―Lori Gottlieb
"I loved and recommend [The Other Significant Others] to everybody." --Ezra Klein
"I feel like I've been waiting for this book for my entire adult life." ―Anne Helen Petersen

Why do we assume romantic relationships are more important than friendships? What do we lose when we expect a spouse to meet all our needs? And what can we learn about commitment, love, and family from people who put deep friendship at the center of their lives?

In The Other Significant Others, NPR's Rhaina Cohen invites us into the lives of people who have defied convention by choosing a friend as a life partner--these are friends who are home co-owners, co-parents or each other's caregivers. Their riveting stories unsettle widespread assumptions about relationships, including the idea that sex is a defining feature of partnership and that people who raise kids together should be in a romantic relationship. Platonic partners from different walks of life--spanning age and religion, gender and sexuality and more--reveal how freeing and challenging it can be to embrace a relationship model that society doesn't recognize. And they show that orienting your world around friends isn't limited to daydreams and episodes of The Golden Girls, but actually possible in real life.

Based on years of original reporting and striking social science research, Cohen argues that we undermine romantic relationships by expecting too much of them, while we diminish friendships by expecting too little of them. She traces how, throughout history, our society hasn't always fixated on marriage as the greatest source of meaning, or even love. At a time when many Americans are spending large stretches of their lives single, widowed or divorced, or feeling the effects of the "loneliness epidemic," Cohen insists that we recognize the many forms of profound connection that can anchor our lives. A rousing and incisive book, The Other Significant Others challenges us to ask what we want from our relationships--not just what we're supposed to want--and transforms how we define a fulfilling life.

Author Biography

Rhaina Cohen is an award-winning producer and editor for NPR's documentary podcast, Embedded. Her work, often focused on social connection, has aired on numerous podcasts and radio shows, including Hidden Brain, Invisibilia, and All Things Considered, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New Republic and elsewhere. The recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Cohen is a graduate of Northwestern University and Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, friends, and her friends' children.

Number of Pages: 320
Dimensions: 0.62 x 8.13 x 5.63 IN
Publication Date: June 17, 2025
Shipping This item ships to
Delivery Estimated between and . Will usually ship within 1 business day.

Description

by Rhaina Cohen (Author)

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
AN INDIE BESTSELLER

"The Other Significant Others...fundamentally, it's become my new Bible." -- Trevor Noah
"An arresting work of compassion and insight." ―Lori Gottlieb
"I loved and recommend [The Other Significant Others] to everybody." --Ezra Klein
"I feel like I've been waiting for this book for my entire adult life." ―Anne Helen Petersen

Why do we assume romantic relationships are more important than friendships? What do we lose when we expect a spouse to meet all our needs? And what can we learn about commitment, love, and family from people who put deep friendship at the center of their lives?

In The Other Significant Others, NPR's Rhaina Cohen invites us into the lives of people who have defied convention by choosing a friend as a life partner--these are friends who are home co-owners, co-parents or each other's caregivers. Their riveting stories unsettle widespread assumptions about relationships, including the idea that sex is a defining feature of partnership and that people who raise kids together should be in a romantic relationship. Platonic partners from different walks of life--spanning age and religion, gender and sexuality and more--reveal how freeing and challenging it can be to embrace a relationship model that society doesn't recognize. And they show that orienting your world around friends isn't limited to daydreams and episodes of The Golden Girls, but actually possible in real life.

Based on years of original reporting and striking social science research, Cohen argues that we undermine romantic relationships by expecting too much of them, while we diminish friendships by expecting too little of them. She traces how, throughout history, our society hasn't always fixated on marriage as the greatest source of meaning, or even love. At a time when many Americans are spending large stretches of their lives single, widowed or divorced, or feeling the effects of the "loneliness epidemic," Cohen insists that we recognize the many forms of profound connection that can anchor our lives. A rousing and incisive book, The Other Significant Others challenges us to ask what we want from our relationships--not just what we're supposed to want--and transforms how we define a fulfilling life.

Author Biography

Rhaina Cohen is an award-winning producer and editor for NPR's documentary podcast, Embedded. Her work, often focused on social connection, has aired on numerous podcasts and radio shows, including Hidden Brain, Invisibilia, and All Things Considered, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New Republic and elsewhere. The recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Cohen is a graduate of Northwestern University and Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, friends, and her friends' children.

Number of Pages: 320
Dimensions: 0.62 x 8.13 x 5.63 IN
Publication Date: June 17, 2025

Shipping

Shipping This item ships to
Delivery Estimated between and . Will usually ship within 1 business day.

Reviews

The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center - Paperback

The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center - Paperback

$39.00
The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center - Paperback

The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center - Paperback

$39.00
3 visitors right now
3 visitors have this item in their cart right now
3 people have bought this item
3 % of people buy 2 or more

Recently viewed products