Sacred Cows: The Truth About Divorce & Marriage

Danielle Teller · Astro Teller

Jul 2014 · Diversion Books

About this ebook

A husband-and-wife doctor team offers fresh and startling perspective on one of our most cherished and misunderstood institutions.
 
Drs. Astro and Danielle Teller know better than most that finding the right partner in life doesn’t always happen the first time around. Through their own divorces they learned how widely held cultural assumptions and misinformation that nobody thinks to question—what they refer to as “sacred cows”—create unnecessary heartache for people who are already suffering through a terrible time.
 
Do you think, for example, that the divorce rate in the United States is rising? Or that children are harmed by divorce? Most people do, but it turns out that neither of these notions is supported by the data. Combining the rigor that has established them as leaders in their respective fields along with a dose of good-natured humor, the Tellers ask readers to take a fresh look at seven common sacred cows: the Holy Cow, the Expert Cow, the Selfish Cow, the Defective Cow, the Innocent Victim Cow, the One True Cow, and the Other Cow. This is not a book that is “for” marriage or “for” divorce, but “for” the freedom to decide how to live most honestly and happily either as part of a couple or a single person.

Ratings and reviews

I've been through a divorce myself (once when my parents were divorced and once when I myself got divorced), and I wish this book had been out while I was going through either of those painful times. There are many myths about divorce that this books dispels -- including ones that get treated as gospel by many divorce and marriage counselors. The Tellers are at their best when dispelling the marriage counseling cows and the academic literature around saving marriages. Overall, they do a good job of tipping the sacred cows, and this book is a good read for those experiencing or considering a divorce or those interested in marriage counseling or in analyzing their own relationships.

About the author

Danielle Teller (formerly Morse, nee Dyck) grew up in Canada, where she and her two brothers were raised by the best parents in the world. As a child, she was a bookworm who dreamed of being a writer, but she chickened out and went to medical school instead. In 1994, she moved temporarily to America, and she has been living temporarily in America ever since. Danielle attended Queen's University during her undergraduate years, and she received her medical training at McGill University, Brown University and Yale University. She has held faculty positions at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University, where she investigated the origins of chronic lung disease and taught in the medical intensive care unit. In 2013, Danielle quit her job to pursue her childhood dream of being a writer. She lives with her husband, Astro Teller, and their four children in Palo Alto, California. Her first novel about the life of Cinderella's stepmother will be published by William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins, in the summer of 2018.