Male Menopause [Paperback]

Jed Diamond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

After years of jokes about the male "midlife crisis," male menopause is today recognized as a true event, occurring in millions of men between the ages of forty and fifty-five. In this groundbreaking and much-lauded book, author Jed Diamond shows that male menopause involves dramatic chemical and physiological changes that affect everything from a mans view on life to his ability to attain and maintain an erection.

As featured in the recent public television special of the same name, Male Menopause surveys the most current medical data and listens to men and women as they struggle to arrive healthy and happy in the second half of life.

Includes the Latest Information on Viagra, Vasomax and Hormone Replacement Therapy

"For fortysomething men, a wealth of information."

--Los Angeles Times

"Far more than a litany of medical findings. Diamond uses his subject to share some valuable insights on sexuality, fatherhood, aging, mentoring and wisdom." --NAPRA Review

"Men know little about their bodies and even less about their aging process. Male Menopause provides valuable information that can help a man and his partner live better and longer." --Kenneth A. Goldberg, M.D., Male Health Institute

"A compelling argument that [male menopause] should be taken seriously, and that men must be prepared to face some real challenges to their physical, sexual, emotional and mental well-being." --Men's Fitness

"Jed Diamond defines and demystifies the controversial issue of male menopause--his book is practical, powerful and passionate." --John Gray, Ph.D., author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

A Featured Selection of Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Book Club and One Spirit Book Club

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

So do men really go through menopause? If you think of menopause as hot flashes and a sudden change in fertility, no. But if you regard menopause as physical and emotional changes triggered by significant changes in hormone levels, then yes, men go through it. In Male Menopause veteran psychotherapist and men's-movement leader Jed Diamond looks at the observable and documentable changes associated with male midlife--weight gain, less physical endurance, longer recovery from injuries, reduced interest in sex, feelings of irritability and depression--and concludes that this is indeed a passage similar to what middle-aged women go through. The last section of Male Menopause discusses how men can get back what they've lost, but for the most part Diamond focuses on understanding and accepting the aging process, not fighting it. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

In this somewhat New Age and trendy book, psychotherapist Diamond explores the climacteric, andropause, or viropause?terms which he prefers to the catachrestic "male menopause." He presents evidence that there are many similarities between what women and men go through both emotionally and physically during the mid-life change. This life change affects all aspects of a man's life and is thus a physical condition with psychological, interpersonal, social, and spiritual dimensions. Many of the things that men experience as negative (loss of strength and physical stamina) actually prepare them for the second of half of life, where more emphasis is placed on emotional and spiritual issues. Diamond addresses issues of concern to the aging male: loss of sexual enjoyment, feeling that time is running out, increased anxieties, weight gain, irritability, sleep disorders, etc. and offers mind-body healing therapies. Unfortunately, despite the bibliographic apparatus, Diamond's text is repetitive and simplistic and remains pop psychology masquerading as scholarship. An optional purchase at best.?James Swanton, Harlem Hospital Lib., New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks; New edition edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570713979
• ISBN-13: 978-1570713972
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is brilliantly written and superbly researched., November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Male Menopause (Paperback)

It puts 'men' back into menopause and substantiates the reality that certainly in midlife, women and men are more alike than different. I particularly liked that definitions were clear and there was a specific program for men and women to assist men in moving through this difficult passage.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars There are probably better, more focused books on the subject, April 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Male Menopause (Paperback)

I first became aware of the author Jed Diamond, when I saw him on a video tape by Gary Null. I appreciated Mr. Diamond's frankness about male genitalia and sexual function. When I learned of his book, I was hoping for a focused discussion on the subject and what can be done about it, based upon my experience of him in his video tape.

"Male Menopause" is really two different books. While Mr. Diamond does go into the physiological aspects of male aging and its affect on sexual function, its comparison to female menopause, as well as what can be done to help nutritionally and medically, the bulk of the book is not dedicated to the subject matter. It focuses on what older men should do with their lives to save society (in other words, in place of sex as a result of the what he states is the inevitable decline of male sexual function). While this is a noble subject, I believe that Mr. Diamond's view is rather idealistic, and would have been better addressed in another book under a different title. Frankly, this information was uninteresting to me, set in a depressing context, and at times, I fought to stay awake while reading it. Moreover, the concepts that he spoke of really should apply to men of all ages, and how we treat one another and male children who will become adults.

As noted, the other information in the book was useful, however, I would not recommend this book for someone who is interested in treating the problems associated with male menopause. I am sure the information is available from other more succinct sources.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This This book was useful, clear, and helpful, November 6, 1999

By 

Carlin Joyce (San Francisco, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Male Menopause (Paperback)

It defines and demystifies the controversial issue of male menopause. The book is practical, powerful, and passionate.