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

Publication 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.

About the Author

Mark Leyner is the author of My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist; Tooth Imprints on a Corn Dog; I Smell Esther Williams; Et Tu Babe; and The Tetherballs of Bougainville. He has written scripts for a variety of films and television shows. His writing appears regularly in The New Yorker, Time, and GQ.

Billy Goldberg, M.D., is an emergency medicine physician on faculty at a New York City teaching hospital. He is also a writer and artist whose paintings have been exhibited in New York City.

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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 (252 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

333 of 356 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

Carolyn Rampone "Carolyn D'Amico Rampone" (Plantation, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini (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!

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

M. D. Copeland "avid opinionist" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini (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.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting indeed, August 4, 2005

By 

Absolut Sake "dragonboats" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini (Paperback)

This is a great coffee table book. In fact, perhaps doctors can put one in their waiting rooms. This book reminds me of Joel Achenbach's two "Why Things Are" books, which contains basically the same type of questions, except on more topics. If you like irrelevant factoids, check them out as well.