One of the most important and yet least understood areas of psychology concerns the role of friends in our lives. In my own writing on adult development and aging (link is external), I have constantly felt frustrated about the relative lack of research on this topic under the category of close relationships in middle and later life. Most of the research on friendship concerns children and adolescents, and only rarely do researchers seriously address friendships over the latter (and majority) of the lifespan. Fortunately, author Carlin Flora (link is external)’s new book, Friendfluence (link is external), addresses this much-needed gap. She pulls together the available and wide-ranging academic literature on friendship with personal insights and interviews, exploring all aspects of friendship in a thoughtful and engaging way.