Why does it hurt so much

when someone you love dies? In grieving for his Jane, Dan Randow offers this poignant insight, “There is a great deal that Jane has given me that I hold dearly inside me and do not have to let go … (yet) When a loved one dies, then they take with them some of ourselves. We experience a small death of ourselves. Those who matter most to us are a part of our 'social atom.'” Taking a somewhat different tack in his soon-to-be-published book, THE SOCIAL ATOM: Why The Rich Get Richer, Cheaters get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You, theoretical physicist, Mark Buchanan defines social atom as “the attraction, rejection or neutral response between people.” “What makes the social world seemingly unpredictable isn’t individual complexity, but the way people go together to create patterns.” If you are interested in more insights in how we're connected (or not) read The Wisdom of Crowds and Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age.