A great "philosopher" once said, "Trying to understand women is like trying to smell the color 9."

But the fact is, men can understand women to their great benefit. All they need is the right teacher. And arguably there is no better teacher than John Gottman, PhD, a world-renowned relationships researcher and author of the bestselling The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.

His new book, written with wife Julie Gottman, a clinical psychologist, and Doug Abrams and Rachel Carlton Abrams, MD, is based on 40 years of scientific study, much of it gleaned from the Gottman's popular couple's workshops and the "love lab" at the University of Washington. It's written primarily for men because new research suggests that it is the man in a relationship who wields the most influence to make it great or screw it up beyond repair.

The Man's Guide to Women offers the science-based answers to the question: What do women really want in a man? The book explains the hallmarks of manhood that most women find attractive, and helps men hone those skills to be the man she desires.