Customer Reviews

O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm

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

 

 

I'm very well-versed in this material, as I'm in the process of writing a book that deals with much of it. So I was looking forward to reading what promised to be a well-written account of such juicy material, when most are dry as ash. I was pleased to find that the writing is lively and surprising, but like other reviewers, I was dismayed by the extremely poor editing and even more, by the plethora of mistaken "facts." Just the first few pages provide more than enough examples. On the first page of the preface, Margolis asserts that "Men and women have practiced procreative sexual intercourse for approximately a hundred thousand years." What's he talking about? We've obviously been having sexual intercourse as long as we've existed -- and though there is debate, our species is thought to have existed far longer than one hundred thousand years.

But even more disturbing is the author's ignorance of very basic information concerning human sexuality. On page 1, he claims that, "the first sexual act by which two like creatures sought intimate contact expressly to give one another physical and emotional pleasure... may well not have taken place until some time in the twentieth century AD, most likely at a location in Western Europe or North America." This is simply astoundingly wrong, not to mention racist as all get-out. For this to be true, nobody in hundreds of centuries ever had sex to give each other pleasure -- no hunter gatherers (most of whom do not equate sex with reproduction), nobody in India (where the Kama Sutra was written thousands of years ago, detailing how to give and receive sexual pleasure), nobody in China (where the first known sex manuals were written even before the Kama Sutra), etc. Just silly.

Elsewhere, he claims bonobos are monogamous (absurd: the first thing anyone learns about bonobos is precisely that they are NOT monogamous), women are the only females who have orgasm (no serious biologist has argued that for decades), that the Ferrari Testarossa refers to [...] (it actually means "red head" in Italian, referring to the engine head that was red).... All these examples are just from the first chapter!

It's a dangerous book, because it's so full of "amazing facts" that you're tempted to believe them (and repeat them to others). The problem is, this author (and editor) is not to be trusted. The book is slapped together without care for editing or factual accuracy. It's a shame, because the quality of the writing is far above the quality of the scholarship.

Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality

As a sex therapist and author, it's rare that I'm both entertained and informed by a book about human sexuality. Jonathan Margolis' survey of the history of the orgasm offers a fresh discovery, and a laugh, on every page. Well-written, opinionated and contentious, I don't agree with all of his observations, but his research is meticulous and stands up well to debate. Margolis has done a great service to students of sexuality, as well as to the layman with this thorough, fascinating book. Liberating the orgasm from the discourses of sexual politics, this important work lets us learn, and, more importantly, laugh a little at sex. At the outset, Margolis states that the World Health Organization estimates that at least a hundred million acts of intercourse are engaged in per day, "and they can't all be bad." With a laugh or a raise of the eyebrows on every page, as well as the frequent "ejaculation" -- 'well what do you know -- this book is probably more consistently satisfying than sex! I can't recommend it enough.

This book contains some fascinating history. Most helpfully, it presents the astonishing diversity of sexual practices around the world and throughout history - in a way that makes hash of the surviving moralistic sexual restrictions that inhibit greater exploration and fulfilment. Many western readers will know that there are different family forms around the world - a knowledge that helps legitimate diversity in our own cultures. The same lesson comes from an appreciation of diversity in sexual practices: once you know something about avisodomy in other cultures, it's hard to sympathize with people who get bent out of shape about teenage masturbation.

So, substantively it's a good book. However, it's a bit hard to imagine that the editor at Random House is still in a job. There are misplaced commas and awkward sentences. More significantly, the book ends poorly: a passage that appears several pages before the end is repeated at the very end, leaving a poor impression. While this may seem trivial, the fact is that reading the book was more of a chore than it should have been.

All,
I don't know if I should confess this but I will.

I have been searching for a book that will let me understand, train me, motivate me, and assist me in achieving at least one orgasm in my lifetime.

I must also confess that I have had many lovers. Some good and some very bad. None of them ever succeeded in giving me the big O as I have heard it being called.

What does all this have to do with this book? I will answer that now please.

This book explained how a woman builds up to an orgasm. The author does an outstanding job of explaining the anatomy and nerve endings, what each part does, and how they must come together as a team to all a woman to loose it in a out of control mind numbing, legs shaking, spastic laden orgasm.

The author was successful with me in allowing me to have my first orgasm since the day I was born 68 years ago. It was a big one, pent up, and a wet one galore!

I highly recommend this book to any female between the ages of 21 and 93.

Signed,
Erica Phillips
(Happy, Very Happy in Decatur)

I didn't have high hopes of this book after reading a spiteful and silly review by Thomas Lacquer, somebody whose work I have quite admired in the past. However, having read Margolis's refreshing and brilliantly written work, I can only imagine Professor Lacquer was a little jealous. Indeed, re-reading the Prof's pompous and confused ramblings on Slate.com - and they are worth re-reading just to try and decode what he is trying to say - I am convinced he merely feels upsatged by this worthy newcomer. Terrific book. I would unhestitatingly have given it five stars had Margolis's publisher splashed out on an index and a few citations. But from my reasonably extensive knowledge of the subject, I have to say Margolis's sources appear to be spot on, whoever they are!

A very enjoyable and well-researched book, serious but not too serious, excellent writing and pretty hot stuff in parts, too! Highly recommended.

I found this book to be an exhaustive study of the history of the orgasm and of various factors that shaped the orgasm perception throughout the history in various parts of the world - I found this fascinating. It is not an academic work despite many references that exist in this book (I totally agree with another reviewer here that index would be very helpful). At the same time the work is serious enough not to take it lightly. It is based on a lot of research. The author is a good writer, which is very important and makes the difference, and the book makes for an easy read even when complicated matters are approached. The only slight negative I felt (and this doesn't affect five stars I gave to the book) is that I had a feeling - based on some remote knowledge I have on a couple of points not directly related to the main theme of the book - that the author sometimes was trying to impress us by exaggerating some events that possibly took place. It is something that would be unexusable in the academic work but doesn't spoil the impression here.

O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm
this is a great book, relatively easy to read and absolutely asks the questions that got me thinking, and talking about how we as a culture define sex. The author's view is alittle biased against our Western culture but not so much that it ruins the book. You won't see sex the same after this one.