Customer Reviews

Sex and Cognition (Bradford Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Easy to read and thought provoking, the book describes some very specific differences in mental abilities between men and women. Men are better at hitting a target with a missile and at mentally rotating an object while women are better at fine hand control and at verbal memory.

Two things bothered me about the arguments presented in this book.

One was the attempt to explain the abilities as evolved from the division of labor in early human hunter/gatherer societies. This was contradicted by experiments on rats that showed male rats were better at spatial navigation. This male linked ability could not have evolved in both early mammals and early humans. It would have been better to leave the whole hunter/gatherer argument out as it was not supported by experimentation.

Second, the author mentions "the sex differences...tend to be smaller in Asians and blacks." This would seem to indicate that the sex differences are cultural and not biological. The author assumes that the race differences are biological but gives no evidence to back this up.

The experiments did try to control for many variables such as the person's size, strength, speed, life experience and much more. The author kept the book very much on the science and avoided controversial and subjective politics.

This is an excellent summary of the current science of male/female brain differences, nicely written and well-grounded in experiment.

I read this followed by Sex on the Brain by Blum, Brain Sex by Moir/Jessel, and The Essential Difference by Baron-Cohen. If you only read one book, read The Essential Difference; if two, then read Sex and Cognition followed by The Essential Difference. The other two are worth reading as well, since they both have some unique material and perspectives. If you read all 4, I think the order I happened to read them worked well.

No author can write an authoritative work in a field this complex and controversial, but Kimura has come close. At times her own views do seem to color her interpretation of certain studies but she is always careful to provide enough information to allow readers to reach their own conclusions.

This book is a good place to start for people who want to know more about sex differences in cognition and development.

The text is clear, simple, and precise. At the end of each chapter, the author, provides the reader with a summary and a list of suggestions for further reading. Both the summary, and the suggestions make of this book a wonderful introduction to the subject.

I enjoyed reading this book as it treats such complex matters in a simple and concise manner.