[attach id=203889 size="medium"][/attach]

Renald Blundell: L-Imħabba Taħt il-Lenti, Malta University Books, 2012, 82pp. €8.70

The book is a sort of friendly dialogue between a medical expert and average readers

In this new publication, Renald Blundell delves into the question of love in terms of its varied dimensions, namely its being a concept as old as human-kind, a fundamental instinct, a conscious choice and a real experience.

He manages to fuse into one whole his academic competence achieved through study and his own human perception as acquired in daily life.

Thus the author identifies himself with the average reader and eventually induces towards a personal stand. This book provides a sort of handbook which can prove quite practical and useful to teachers, parents and all involved in education, both civil and religious.

Dr Blundell has done a good service in providing a book on the subject in Maltese, thus reaching the widest audience possible and helping create awareness of the need of such knowledge. He makes use of a lucid, conversational style, and is never obscure or vague.

The book is a sort of friendly dialogue between a medical expert and average readers in search of a better understanding of what is meant by love in all its possible connotations. In sharing his scientific knowledge with the public, the author frequently writes from the readers’ presumed point of view, and so answers as many questions as he proposes new ones.

Dr Blundell makes it evident that he means to help readers identify love from both the giving and the getting ends of experience, and distinguishes between loving and being loved.

Whether it is love in its most generic, unassuming sense, or friendship, acquaintance and a real relationship, L-Imħabba Taħt il-Lenti is indeed a valid work deserving to reach adolescents and adults alike.