Customer Reviews

The New Bottoming Book

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Who would think that being tied up and beaten could be the most pleasurable and empowering experience of one's life? Easton and Hardy's persuasive enthusiasm convinced me.
Concise chapters map out a sensible and intuitive path to bring a novice from fantasy to reality. The warm, personal style is unmistakably the hallmark of Greenery Press - as is the focus on ethics and infinite possiblities. I was especially moved by the underlying message that - rather than recklessly throwing yourself at someone's feet - to be an informed and thoughtful submissive is a rare and valuable gift to a lucky dominant.
For anyone who has nervously surpressed their fantasies of being swept away by a Powerful Creature or used mercilessly by a Stern Master, this book simultaneously reassures, encourages and inspires.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the bottoming part of BDSM. It encourages, informs, and empowers bottoms. The authors make it plain that: No, you are not crazy. No, bottoming does not mean that you are powerless or weak. No, you are not alone. Yes, it is ok to want this!
This is not a book on how to play, per se, but rather a book on how to be a strong, powerful bottom who can enjoy exploring that part of themselves. I recommend reading this book along with a book that explains how to get started, such as SM 101, by Jay Wiseman.

The original Bottoming book gave a lot of good information and advice to "bottoms" everywhere. This "new version" contains much of the original "advice," like "connecting" and negotiation, but also has new and much-needed information, such as a big section on meeting someone online via chat rooms, mailing lists and/or Internet newsgroups and how to convert from "cyber" to "real-time," and dealing with the fact that their "reality" may not match yours.

There are also chapters describing different "scenes" (and their 'rewards' and also tips on beginning and ending them)and role play, with short subsections about bondage and submission.

I've always enjoyed Ms Hardy's (formerly under the "Lady Green" pseudonym) and Easton's writing style: informative and at the same time informal enough that you sense they've been through virtually all of the same questions a bottom might ask of themselves or their partners. This truly is an excellent update to a classic SM instructional book.

I realize that this is entitled "The New -Bottoming- Book," however, based on the description, I expected it to further explore lifestyle BDSM as well. I was disappointed that it mostly dealt with sceneing protocol, a lot of which comes as common sense. This is a great book for those who are really new to BDSM and know next to nothing about scening, or are interested in playing at play parties, perhaps, but I would not recommend it for a submissive or slave looking to explore their own service.

In this 69 page expansion of the original Liszt & Easton book, several new technological developments are taken into consideration while the wonderful Fish drawings are left out. The book has four main sections: intro, skills, scenes, and conclusion. The basic message is both simple and somewhat revolutionary if you listen to the general BS in the vanilla world: bottoms are powerful. There are layout problems in this edition such as mislabeled sections and as always I would really like writers to do more research and more citations. Only one group of kinky folk are left out of the chapter: the 24/7 or lifestyle persons. But the book is for beginners and in my opinion beginners need to start slowly.

This is the second version of "The Bottoming Book," the first one having been published a decade before and much has changed with the world and with the authors, including their names. Catherine A. Liszt, who had minor children that she wished to protect at the time of the first edition, now writes under her real name, Janet W. Hardy. The authors have since written several other books as well.
This 173-page guide to the art of "bottoming" is packed full of information and personal insights that have the ring of obvious common sense. That's not an easy task since to most people in the world, the entire concepts of BDSM seem like they are straight out of the Hellish visions of painter Hieronymus Bosch.
The book is like a peek into the strange, dark side of the human mind. Oddly enough, the people involved as bottoms and tops find enlightenment, out-of-body experiences and spiritualism from their excursions into D&S sub-space, trances and endorphin charged highs. I actually hesitated to publish this review under my own name, but it's only a book review and this is still a free country, even for that portion of the nation that is truly kinky and the much larger group that is simply curious about kink and its practitioners--like me.
It would be impossible for me to provide much detail about the content of this book because it is extremely complicated and yet amazingly simple and understandable. This is not a book for dummies although difficult concepts and what seems like universal paradoxes are amazingly well articulated and explained. This is also not an instruction book on the various techniques of how to flog the skin off a helpless victim. The authors, who write as a team, describe their book as "an unabashedly-centrist book. In it we will tell you over and over again that bottoms are beautiful, bottoms are powerful, bottoms are alchemists who magically transform suffering into sex, humiliation in desire, screams of pain into moans of pleasure." The authors actually do a pretty good job of doing just that--not only explaining why, but also how. That's a hugely difficult task.
The human mind is a marvelous thing. The complexities of that mind are limitless. This book delves into the many subcultures that are coming out of the closet to proclaim their place in mainstream society. Once the reader has read this book they will still have lots of questions, but they will also have gained a much better sense of what this subculture is really about and how it is often more caring and safety minded than regular society. While it seems to be totally non-politically correct, especially because it uses pain and humiliation and many criminal themes (being captured by pirates or slaves and their masters for instance) as the building blocks of role playing and sexual fulfillment as consensual ADULT forms of loving and caring the reader will quickly realize that much lies below the surface of myths of the world of tops and bottoms. Reading this book is like opening a door into a whole new world of understanding. This reviewer apologizes for not being better able to convey the material contained in this tome. This review is only a few ice crystals on the peak of a gigantic iceberg. The insights contained in this book are a fascinating discovery even for middle-aged conservative and vanilla adults such as me. It could never be considered a boring read. And it won't give the reader nightmares either, it's too thought provoking. It's amazing what some perfectly normal, loving folks will do for limitless amounts of mind-boggling sensation.

This book reads like a reassuring letter from a close friend. Oh dearest reader, what you've been fantasizing about isn't as weird as you think. In fact, my love, I think it's wonderful and I'm so proud you're finally admitting it to yourself!

This book doesn't have much to offer someone who is already comfortable with the thought that his/her sexual desires involve submission.

The authors describe what goes on in the minds of bottoms (like to submit) and tops (like to control). They offer a lot of commonsensey stuff about negotiating your limits before a scene (the authors suggest using email, for instance) or negotiating, more carefully, when you're in-role together. The authors discuss some of the decisions you'll have to make as a bottom (like to what extent you'll want to maintain your role out of the bedroom) but the authors tend to throw out a cursory list of possible options, offering little depth and experience.

Even as someone with little experience, I was still disappointed with this read. It was too superficial, too "supportive" (I am not ashamed!), too obvious (i.e., communication is very important).

I think this book is best suited for people who've fantasized about bottoming but aren't sure whether it's what they really want or how they can get started doing it carefully. If you don't fit this description, and you've found a better book, please post is a comment here so that we can all read that one instead! Sorry, authors.

the authors (who also wrote the New Topping Book and The Ethical Slut) have a sane, healthy and fun approach to all sex, sexuality, relationships and power.

BDSM play is fun and powerful stuff - this book provides a fabulous perspective for all players - new and old.

most of all, its a must read for those thinking about dabbling in power play - top, bottom or switch - remember, most good tops, have learned to top by being good bottoms. (grin)

I read this book twice in 3 days and found it thought provoking and informative. The second time through the book I realized that many of the points related directly to some of the experiences I have had, even though I'm fairly new to the leather/BDSM community. One of the great aspects of the book is that the authors chose to reveal their personal experiences to explain or back up their opinions on certain subjects.

This book is light hearted and easy to read. I highly recommend The New Bottoming Book to anyone that is discovering and/or questioning their submissive side in the BDSM community. I would also recommend sharing it with your current dominant - it may very well open new lines of communication and allow both of you to learn more about each other as play partners.

This book is a staple for any Bottom. It has more of a real world bent with a little spitirtualism tossed in. Not slave orientated but more focused on simply being a good bottom during a scene or for a period of time. Offers insite into tops as well, so bottoms can understand how they function. If your curious are just starting, READ THIS BOOK.