Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini [Paperback]

Mark Leyner (Author), Billy Goldberg (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 26, 2005

Is There a Doctor in the House?

Say you’re at a party. You’ve had a martini or three, and you mingle through the crowd, wondering how long you need to stay before going out for pizza. Suddenly you’re introduced to someone new, Dr. Nice Tomeetya. You forget the pizza. Now is the perfect time to bring up all those strange questions you’d like to ask during an office visit with your own doctor but haven’t had the guts (or more likely the time) to do so. You’re filled with liquid courage . . . now is your chance! If you’ve ever wanted to ask a doctor . . .

•How do people in wheelchairs have sex?

•Why do I get a killer headache when I suck down my milkshake too fast?

•Can I lose my contact lens inside my head forever?

•Why does asparagus make my pee smell?

•Why do old people grow hair on their ears?

•Is the old adage “beer before liquor, never sicker, liquor before beer . . .” really true?

. . . then Why Do Men Have Nipples? is the book for you.

Compiled by Billy Goldberg, an emergency medicine physician, and Mark Leyner, bestselling author and well-known satirist, Why Do Men Have Nipples? offers real factual and really funny answers to some of the big questions about the oddities of our bodies.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Urban legends and perennial wonders get a witty treatment in this lighthearted guide to largely inconsequential yet intriguing aspects of the human body. Leyner, a novelist whose writing appears regularly in the New Yorker and GQ, and New York physician Goldberg address food and the body (does coffee stunt your growth?), "body oddities" (what are goose bumps?), folk remedies (does breast milk cure warts?), drugs (does marijuana help glaucoma?), bathroom humor (why can you ignite a fart?), medical media (is the show ER accurate?), old wives tales (can lip balm be addictive?) and aging (why do old ladies grow beards?). And then there's the sex chapter-definitely the one where the subtitle is most applicable, with questions like "can people in wheelchairs still have sex?" and "do the kind of underpants men wear affect their fertility?" The book includes e-mail interactions between the authors, which are sometimes funny. Some of the authors' answers are unsatisfactory and, as a whole, this is much more of a humor book than a health one. The truly curious will find better, more in-depth answers on medical Web sites, but those looking for a good laugh will have some fun with this book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

'The perfect book for trivia junkies' TNT MAGAZINE 'An amusing and light-hearted read' REAL ' --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400082315
• ISBN-13: 978-1400082315
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (264 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Doctors & Medicine

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

335 of 358 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and educational August 4, 2005

By Carolyn Rampone VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"Why Do Men Have Nipples?" was big fun. I have to admit having had some of the sillier questions take up space in my head for years. You aren't going to find answers to life or definitive information on the origin of the universe here, just some of the more interesting facts we can't live without. This book had me laughing out loud, sometimes at the questions, sometimes because the question was ever asked in the first place. I am proud to say I already knew why your teeth chatter in the cold or with a fever (body trying to warm up) and sucking the poison from a snake bite wasn't such a good idea. I didn't know the average desk in the average workplace could kill you with the amount of germs and bacteria outnumbering those on the toilet seat. Think hand sanitizer for stocking stuffers this year!! There are hundreds more interesting and sometimes strange facts I didn't know but the team of Goldberg and Leyner has now educated me to the level of expert. I am not sure if that's something to be proud of or not but I laughed and laughed hard while reading "Why Do Men Have Nipples?" and I suggest it to anyone who might be tempted to accost a doctor outside of his office for answers to some of the more pressing questions you have about the human body. Recommended highly!

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ask away! August 18, 2005

By M. D. Copeland

Format:Paperback

A great book. In somewhat of a twist, it was actually one of my patients that recommended this book to me. As a physician practicing almost 25 years, I've heard a lot of these strange but interesting questions before--"Can my contact lens get stuck behind my eye?"--but others I've never met anyone with the gall to ask ("How do people in wheelchairs have sex?").

It's an interesting premise: there's tons of things people would like to know, but are too afraid to ask. Well, all of these questions are easily answered by a knowledgable person with a little medical experience. But it's the funny, fast-paced format of Leyner that makes this book a success. This is a terrific bookeasy to read, and if you still have questions, give me or your doctor a call.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Some off-color humor amid some semi-serious Q and A December 12, 2006

By Dennis Littrell HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I knew why men have nipples before I read this book. Because we're all female for the first six weeks after conception until the male hormones kick in. Yes, macho men, the default human is female. But I can never resist the kind of book in which there are questions we'd like the answers to and answers.

Ah, but this book is a little different. First, some of the questions are given equivocal answers, which is to be expected, since most of what there is to know isn't known. Some of the questions, like "Will using a cell phone give you a brain tumor?" or "Is it true that left-handed people are smarter than right-handed people?" aren't answered at all. Leyner, who is a writer, and Goldberg, who is an MD, have a way of going around the question. I got the feeling that the extent of their research didn't go much past the Internet--which might raise the question, how did this book ever become a best seller and inspire a sequel? The answer, my friend, is in the comedy.

Leyner and Goldberg are a comedy team. While the bulk of the book is in the Qs and As, a good part consists of some hijinks at a cocktail party (thus the three martinis, although Leyner is mostly into Don Julio tequila). A third part seems to be lifted verbatim from their emails to each other.

Part of the fun are those emails because they seem to give the reader a realistic glimpse into the cooperative creative process. It is also kind of fun to read what a doctor writes when he lets his hair down, so to speak, or at least takes off the white coat. However all of this is carefully staged. This is one of those "best seller" ideas that actually worked. These guys trade raunchy humor spiked with some information and lo and behold it works.

Well, it semi-works. I liked the book and read it through in a setting, but some of the humor may be a little too raunchy for some.

Bottom line: diverting enough for a rainy day or for that cross country flight, or if you need a break from War and Peace.