Hector and The Secrets of Love

I don't think anyone would pick up this little book thinking that it might actually tell them the secrets of love, but it does have some interesting insights about the subject, along with a decent plot.
Hector is a psychiatrist who lives with Clara. She works for a drug company, and her boss, Gunther, asks Hector to find a researcher who went missing with the drug he had been working on -- a drug that makes people fall in love with each other.
While searching for the missing doctor, Hector begins to keep his own notes about love, trying to figure out if there are rules, or as he eventually calls them, components.
When Hector ends up in a small Asian country, he finds the doctor has left him a note and love potion pills for Hector and the Asian waitress. The doctor assures Hector in the note that he will give him an antidote. And that's how Hector falls in love with a woman who doesn't speak a single word in his language.
Gunther and the drug company are not the only ones searching for the love potion though. The Chinese would like the potion to convince young people to make sensible marriages and stop wasting time on hedonistic pleasures. Two Japanese spies are searching for the potion so they can increse the number of marriages in Japan. Gunther and the drug company, of course, want the potion so they can make millions by insuring that people fall in love and stay in love.
My favorite part of the book is when the doctor gives the love potion to two pandas in the zoo who have refused to mate. The potion gets them to mate. Unfortunately, later, one of the pandas eats the other because it is so consumed by wanting to be one with the other panda.
This book got me to thinking about love. It isn't something I think about because I have a husband who loves me. That means, I am probably taking him for granted and not being careful to show him my gratitude for the way he brings out the best of me.
This book is described as philosophy, in the tradition of The Alchemist or The Little Prince. It's a book to take in small bites, but one that definitely will get you thinking about your own love life, or lack of it.

First Paragraph Tuesdays -- Hector and the Secrets of Love

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

Yesterday was a good day because I spent time browsing at both the library and Barnes and Noble. I came across this curious little book and I have started to read it. Hector and the Secrets of Love by Francois Lelord
has a funny cartoon character man on the front. Hector is a psychiatrist, and according to the book jacket, he travels the world on behalf of a pharmaceutical company to find a scientist who discovered the molecule that makes people fall in love.
Here's the first paragraph, plus a little more:

"All we have to say to him is: 'My dear doctor, you're going to help us discover the secret of love.' I'm sure he'll consider it a very noble mission."
"Do you think he's up to it?"
"Yes, I do."
"He'll need persuading -- you have the necessary funds."
"The most important thing, I think, is to make him feel he'll be doing something worthwhile."
"So we'll need to tell him everything?"
"Yes. Well, not everything, if you see what I mean."
"I understand."
The two men in grey suits were talking late at night in a big office at the top of a tall building. Through the picture windows the bright city lights shone as far as the eye could see, but they didn't take any notice of them.
Instead they looked at some photographs they had taken from a file. They were glossy portraits of a youngish man with a preoccupied air.
"Psychiatrist, what a strange occupation!" said the older man. "I wonder how anyone can stand it."
"Yes, I wonder, too."
The younger man, a tall, strapping fellow with cold eyes, replaced all the photos in the file, which was marked "Dr. Hector."

I don't know about you, but I'm just drawn to this book.