Our friends enrich every part of our lives. Now you can make them matter the most. Despite modern technology and the ample ways we have to keep in touch, we risk neglecting our relationships with the people who have the most profound effect on our well-being: our friends. Weaving together personal stories, interviews with experts, and social research, Friendship First empowers you to nurture relationships with friends both new and old. Journalist Gyan Yankovich reveals how friendships play a vital role in our happiness with insights on how to: Deepen workplace friendships outside the office Invite friends into activities typically reserved for families Use social media to strengthen connections Maintain friendships through major life transitions. An ode to group chats and chosen family, Friendship First invites you to care for and count on those who matter most.

Discover the unexpected ways friends influence our personalities, choices, emotions, and even physical health in this fun and compelling examination of friendship, based on the latest scientific research and ever-relatable anecdotes. Why is dinner with friends often more laughter filled and less fraught than a meal with family? Although some say it’s because we choose our friends, it’s also because we expect less of them than we do of relatives. While we’re busy scrutinizing our romantic relationships and family dramas, our friends are quietly but strongly influencing everything from the articles we read to our weight fluctuations, from our sex lives to our overall happiness levels. Evolutionary psychologists have long theorized that friendship has roots in our early dependence on others for survival. These days, we still cherish friends but tend to undervalue their role in our lives. However, the skills one needs to make good friends are among the very skills that lead to success in life, and scientific research has recently exploded with insights about the meaningful and enduring ways friendships influence us. With people marrying later—and often not at all—and more families having just one child, these relationships may be gaining in importance. The evidence even suggests that at times friends have a greater hand in our development and well-being than do our romantic partners and relatives. Friends see each other through the process of growing up, shape each other’s interests and outlooks, and, painful though it may be, expose each other’s rough edges. Childhood and adolescence, in particular, are marked by the need to create distance between oneself and one’s parents while forging a unique identity within a group of peers, but friends continue to influence us, in ways big and small, straight through old age. Perpetually busy parents who turn to friends—for intellectual stimulation, emotional support, and a good dose of merriment—find a perfect outlet to relieve the pressures of raising children. In the office setting, talking to a friend for just a few minutes can temporarily boost one’s memory. While we romanticize the idea of the lone genius, friendship often spurs creativity in the arts and sciences. And in recent studies, having close friends was found to reduce a person’s risk of death from breast cancer and coronary disease, while having a spouse was not. Friendfluence surveys online-only pals, friend breakups, the power of social networks, envy, peer pressure, the dark side of amicable ties, and many other varieties of friendship. Told with warmth, scientific rigor, and a dash of humor, Friendfluence not only illuminates and interprets the science but draws on clinical psychology and philosophy to help readers evaluate and navigate their own important friendships.

Voice memos, care packages, hours-long phone conversations, treasured traditions that go back decades, glasses held aloft during wedding toasts, hands held at funerals, first cuddles with newborns, lunches with work wives, taking it to the group chat – our friendships touch and enrich every part of our lives. But how often do we stop to consider them deeply? Just Friends explores modern friendship – what it means to be, to make and, sometimes, to lose a friend. It is a celebration of friendship, shining a light on the many different forms they can take and the comfort they provide, whether they exist within the workplace, emerge in motherhood, are uncovered inside our neighbourhoods or become our chosen family. Just Friends is an ode to the people that shape us. It is a book to devour on the beach or with a book club, a book to return to again and again, and, most importantly, a book to press into the hands of the friends you love the most. PRAISE FOR JUST FRIENDS ‘Yankovich’s debut is a celebration of the people that often know us better than we know ourselves. Comforting, warming, and tender, by a very talented writer.’ – The Australian ‘the perfect pick for book clubs or just-because gifts for your BFF(s)’ – Broadsheet ‘a joyful, hopeful and considered book that will have you texting your friends in a hurry to tell them how much you appreciate them’ – Lucinda Price, author of Perfect Candidate ‘This book not only made me think about my friends in a different way, it also made me think about the kind of person I want to be.’ – Bridie Jabour, author of Trivial Grievances ‘a thoughtful, brilliant, and wholly comforting read’ – Elfy Scott, author of The One Thing We’ve Never Spoken About ‘This book honours our most significant relationships with the tender thoughtfulness of the best friend you’ve ever had.’ – Gina Rushton, author of The Most Important Job in the World

Makes a wonderful gift for a friends, graduate, sister, cousin, teammate, teacher, daughter, aunt, or anyone who could use a motivational, inspirational boost. Perfect for taking notes, jotting lists, doodling, brainstorming, prayer and meditation journal, writing in as a diary, or giving as a gift6X9 inch, 100 pages, lined journal notebook

Friendship is not a rational process. While reasoning and discerning play a part in our choices of friends, feelings and emotions are strong elements as well. Much of the conscious development of our circle of friends rests on an understanding of the elements and foundations of friendship. There is no magic formula. Friendship choices rest on principles and concepts. Friendships take effort. They hold a bit of mystery. They can't be manufactured. But they are priceless. Walk with Jerry and Mary White in To Be a Friend as they probe and discover together the great adventure of being and having friends.

Chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall's online book club The Reading Room by HRH The Prince of Wales When William Blacker first crossed the snow-bound passes of northern Romania, he stumbled upon an almost medieval world. There, for many years he lived side by side with the country people, a life ruled by the slow cycle of the seasons, far away from the frantic rush of the modern world. In spring as the pear trees blossomed he ploughed with horses, in summer he scythed the hay meadows and in the freezing winters gathered wood by sleigh from the forest. From sheepfolds harried by wolves, to courting expeditions in the snow, he experienced the traditional way of life to the full, and became accepted into a community who treated him as one of their own. But Blacker was also intrigued by the Gypsies, those dark, foot-loose strangers of spell-binding allure who he saw passing through the village. Locals warned him to stay clear but he fell in love and there followed a bitter struggle. Change is now coming to rural Romania, and William Blacker's adventures will soon be part of its history. From his early carefree days tramping the hills of Transylvania, to the book's poignant ending, Along the Enchanted Way transports us back to a magical country world most of us thought had vanished long ago.

"The Friendship Effect is a two-part book that will teach you all you need to know to be a true friend and to create long-lasting genuine friendships. Part one focuses on being a friend to yourself and living a life based on what makes you happy, which will inevitably attract more friends your way. Part two spotlights the secrets to creating and sustaining lifelong friendships while showing why and how friendships are lifesaving and world changing."--The back cover