All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks – A Transformative Exploration of What It Means to Truly Love

What love really is.

A short summary:

In All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks examines one of humanity’s most powerful and misunderstood forces, love. With her signature insight and grace, hooks challenges how modern society defines and practices love, asking what it means to truly give and receive it. Through reflections on self-love, honesty, work, community, and spirituality, she argues that love is not merely a feeling but a daily act of intention and care.

Her words urge us to reclaim love as a transformative power, one that demands attention, vulnerability, and truth. It’s a book about healing, connection, and the radical act of choosing love in a world that often teaches us fear instead.

My favorite quote from the book:

"Attention is an important resource."

- bell hooks, All About Love

Questions to ponder while reading:

Can love transform?

Is love significant?

My review:

This is one of those rare books that quietly changes how you see the world. bell hooks writes about love with both tenderness and urgency, weaving philosophy, spirituality, and social critique into something deeply personal. Her message is clear: love isn’t something that just happens to us, it’s something we practice, cultivate, and protect.

I found myself underlining nearly every page. Hooks’s exploration of self-worth, honesty, and compassion hits home in a way that feels both timeless and necessary. Reading All About Love is like sitting down with a wise friend who tells you the truth, even when it’s hard to hear. A beautifully written call to love better, live with awareness, and give your attention to what truly matters.

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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia. 

In addition to her travel writings at www.takethebackroads.com, you can also read her book reviews at www.riteoffancy.com and US military biographies at www.everydaypatriot.com

Her online photography gallery can be found at shop.takethebackroads.com

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