New Book Says Face-To-Face Interactions Make Us Healthier, Happier, Smarter

As people across the country go to the polls today, they'll be standing in line waiting for ballots next to their neighbors. Some of them they'll know, but others will be complete strangers.

Increasingly, we don't interact with our neighbors — or even need to leave our homes. Everything from toothpaste to butternut squash to shoes can be delivered right to our doorsteps.

But that convenience may come at a cost: our health.

WBUR's Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with the author of a new book that makes the argument not only that face-to-face personal relationships can have a positive effect on our health — but that a lack of them can be damaging to our physical well-being.

Susan Pinker will be reading from her book and signing copies at the COOP Tuesday night. At the same event, her brother Steven Pinker will be reading from his book, "The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century," which he discussed on Radio Boston in September.

Susan Pinker, developmental psychologist and author. Her latest book is "The Village Effect: How Face-To-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier, Happier, and Smarter."

NPR: Forget Facebook, Abandon Instagram, Move To A Village

Radio Boston: Seven Writing Style Lessons We Learned From Linguist Steven Pinker