Love and Orgasm [Paperback]

Lowen (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner Paper Fiction (October 1, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 002077320X
• ISBN-13: 978-0020773207
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,185,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The All-Time Best Book on Sex, October 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Love and Orgasm (Paperback)

Why this book is not better known is beyond me. Lowen wrote it decades ago, and it still is far ahead of anything else written to this point on the subject.

His views of homosexuality may clash with today's world, but the essence of the book is full of humanity and deep insight into the nature of love. I can't say enough about this book. It is a gem of pure beauty.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Look at the Truth, February 22, 2011

By 

Passionate Therapist (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love and Orgasm (Paperback)

Lowen writes both about what sex can be at best, and what it usually is in fact. Most other writers on sex can only do one or the other. Lowen also bridges here the biological and the psychological as he does in his other works--another rare achievement. Sex is not everything, but it is fundamental. Understanding sex is fundamental to understanding human functioning and human suffering.

Two things should be gotten out of the way: 1) Lowen considers homosexuality a far less than optimal sexual expression. This is not saying too much, because in the context of the Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen tradition, about 99% of people are considered to have less than optimal sexual expression (including Lowen admits, himself) Still he writes about the subject with a slight flavor of condescension. 2) Lowen seeks to explain commercial sex work in purely psychological terms. Perhaps because, unlike the entire rest of his writing, he did not speak from his vast clinical experience, this section seems to fall short of his usual great explanatory skill.

This book is likely to be upsetting because it bursts many illusions about sex. Sexual functioning has not gotten any more satisfying for most people since this book was written, probably it is generally less-satisfying, because estrangement from the self, from the body, and from feeling has gotten worse in those five decades.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No separation between love and sex, August 3, 2008

By 

Karen S. Wako "wamwano" (silver spring, MD 20902 USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love and Orgasm (Paperback)

This book is wonderful and eye opening. His views on performance versus feeling and being are right on point.I intend to buy this book for my friends.