We've all been there before. It's late. You shoot a text to BAE. Minutes pass. The read receipt pings back and for some reason there's still no response. Situations like this abound in the 21'st century, rife with miscommunication, technology, and swipe-based dating services. "Modern Romance" discusses the many difficulties in finding love that many people would not have had to face twenty or even ten years ago.

Books by comedians are a dime a dozen, and just about any one you pick off the shelf is bound to make you laugh a few times. These authors are all paid to make readers laugh, and often that's exactly what they do. What makes Aziz Ansari's book different from the rest is its subject matter. Not only is the book roaringly funny, but it is full of sociological research done by him and his partner Eric Klinenberg. In-person interviews, online forums, and direct statistical research analyze subjects ranging from Tinder to the marriage crisis in Japan. If you pick up this book to laugh, you are going to learn something. And if you pick up this book to learn you are bound to laugh a few times.

Aziz and Eric visit countries such as Japan, France, and Brazil in order to learn about how different cultures view the same topic. They interview people of all ages in order to find out how romance worked during the pre-post-Cold War era. And what they find is that pretty much everyone can agree that dating is tough nowadays. Aziz and Eric set out on a quest to discover why the dating scene is so complicated, and what makes it so. Ultimately the book is extremely successful in what it sets out to do.

I listened to the book on audiobook, which most people think is cheating. I was going to read the actual book, until I heard the audiobook was voiced by Aziz himself. And I have always been a fan of his uncouth delivery and hilariously inflected voice. If you buy the audiobook, *spoiler alert*, prepare to spend the first five minutes of your listening experience being lambasted for being lazy for buying the audiobook.

This book is expertly written for, and about, it's audience, and no matter which way you approach it you will end up getting more than you hoped for. Whether you want to laugh, benefit from the intensive research, or you just want to be able to brag to a Tinder match that you have voluntarily read a book in the last 6 years, I strongly recommend that you read this book.