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For a Valentine’s Day pick with the holiday built into its story, start with Stacey Baker and Alec Soth’s This is what enduring love looks like: TED describes the photographers visiting a Valentine’s Day speed-dating event in Las Vegas and a retirement community to trace love across a lifetime. The other choices below offer different angles, from relationship science and lasting partnership to everyday care, definitions of love, and technology’s role in dating.
Which love talk should you choose?
| Choose this | If you want | Format and context |
|---|---|---|
| This is what enduring love looks like | A Valentine’s-specific story about love across a lifetime | TED2015 talk |
| The science of love | A research-oriented perspective on couples | TEDxVeniceBeach talk |
| The secret to lasting love | A recent perspective on long-term partnership | TED2026 talk |
| How to find connection – and love – in everyday life | Love beyond romance: friendship, family, and daily connection | TED Original Podcast episode |
| What is love? | A short, accessible starting point for the question itself | TED-Ed lesson |
| The 6 essential ingredients of loving relationships | A practical relationship framework | TEDNext 2025 talk |
| Embracing Unconditional Love | A reflective challenge to expectations about intimacy | TEDxTinHauWomen talk |
| Technology hasn’t changed love. Here’s why | A dating-and-technology angle | TEDSummit talk |
Talks with a Valentine’s Day connection
This is what enduring love looks like — Stacey Baker and Alec Soth
TED describes this TED2015 project as a visual journey between two very different settings: the world’s largest speed-dating event, held in Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day, and a retirement community. Baker and Soth use portraits to consider how people move from meeting to building a life together. It is the clearest choice for a holiday watch because its reporting begins on Valentine’s Day and looks beyond the first spark to the years that may follow.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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A Book of Love Poetry | $12.05 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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100 Best-Loved Poems (Thrift Editions) | $4.65 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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The 100 Best Love Poems of All Time | $17.95 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation | $11.69 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology (Dover Thrift Editions) | $6.00 | Buy on Amazon |
Talks about lasting relationships
The science of love — John Gottman
In this TEDxVeniceBeach talk, psychologist John Gottman discusses measuring couples’ behavior, perceptions, and physiology over time. TED’s description highlights calm, trust, and commitment as central themes. Pick it for a more analytical take on what happens within relationships; it is a TEDx event, independently organized using the TED conference format, rather than an official TED conference talk.
The secret to lasting love — Eli J. Finkel
Social psychologist Eli J. Finkel draws on decades of studying successful partnerships in this TED2026 talk. TED’s summary frames the subject around why couples can struggle to be true to themselves and what happier couples do differently. It makes a useful pairing with Gottman’s talk: both address relationship science, while Finkel’s description puts self-expression and happiness in the foreground.
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The 6 essential ingredients of loving relationships — Sara Nasserzadeh
TED says Nasserzadeh’s framework draws on her analysis of 450 couples across more than 40 countries and presents six ingredients for loving relationships. That figure is TED’s description of the speaker’s analysis, not an independently assessed study result here. Choose this TEDNext 2025 talk if a structured framework is more appealing than a personal story or a broad discussion of love.
Talks that broaden the meaning of love
How to find connection – and love – in everyday life — Chris Duffy with Barbara Fredrickson
This TED Original Podcast episode extends the holiday beyond romantic couples. TED describes psychologist Barbara Fredrickson discussing positive emotions, everyday connection, and care in relationships. It fits listeners celebrating friendship or family, as well as anyone who wants to think about love as something practiced in ordinary interactions.
Rank #2
What is love? — Brad Troeger
This TED-Ed lesson offers an accessible entry point to a famously difficult question. Its description treats love as subjective while also introducing evolutionary explanations. Choose it for a concise, educational option to watch or share, rather than a guide to making a relationship last.
Embracing Unconditional Love — Valentina Tudose
TED says Tudose’s TEDxTinHauWomen talk challenges expectations in romantic relationships and asks whether unconditional love is possible in real life. It is the more reflective pick for viewers interested in intimacy and the assumptions people bring to it.
Rank #3
Love and dating in the age of technology
Technology hasn’t changed love. Here’s why — Helen Fisher
In this TEDSummit talk, anthropologist Helen Fisher argues that technology changes courtship while fundamental principles of love remain. TED’s description also notes that Esther Perel joins the conversation to discuss how technology affects the ways relationships form and end. Pick it if dating apps and digital communication are part of the Valentine’s Day conversation you want to have.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to pick the right one for your Valentine’s Day
- For a story to watch together: Start with Baker and Soth’s portraits and life-span perspective.
- For a discussion about what makes relationships work: Choose Gottman, Finkel, or Nasserzadeh, depending on whether you prefer measurement, partnership and self-expression, or a six-part framework.
- For a less romance-centered celebration: Play the Fredrickson podcast episode about everyday connection, or the TED-Ed lesson if you want to ask what love means.
- For reflection on expectations or modern dating: Choose Tudose for unconditional love, or Fisher for technology and courtship.
These are distinct TED catalog formats, not eight equivalent stage talks: the selection includes official conference talks, TEDx talks, a TED-Ed lesson, and a TED Original Podcast episode. “Best” is a matter of what you want from the occasion—storytelling, a research-oriented lens, practical ideas, or a broader view of connection. The selection is not an exhaustive catalog, and TED pages are the place to check current availability and event details.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Author: William Blake.William Wordsworth.Samuel Taylor Coleridge.Lord Byron.Percy Bysshe Shelley.John Keats.
- Publisher: Dover Publications
- Pages: 256
- Publication Date: 1996
- Edition: Edition Unstated
Rank #4
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