Customer Reviews

Sex: A Natural History

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

How do I say this? I loved this book and I hated it. I am a scientist, but the book was written in a dryer style than many scientific papers I have read and it is about 20x as long. I think the book is worth reading, because it has some really fascinating information in it and if you think critically about the information presented, it can be very enlightening about the complexities of our brains, bodies, behaviors and how they come together to influence one of my favorite hobbies (sex). However, be prepared to read this book in small snippets, that is unless you can keep long lists of hormone, glands and other scientific names straight in your head.
Well worth the read in the end...four months after I started it.

The book explains why we know so little about sex then goes on to teach a great deal about sex. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone curious about sex and having the desire to read a book that at times is textbookish.

The theories presented are mainstream 1990-2000 and as uncontroversial as you can get. She mentions at times the more controversial theories, such as the application of Red Queen to humans, but always in context and with forwarning that the theory is interesting, but debate exists.

Some theories are a bit dated, as any pop book covering any research subject is, so I'd like to see her fix the three errors I found and update the book a bit. I'd read the sequel!

It's a book you can give your teenager without fear that they will get some wierd misapplied ideas. They will also come away from the book with a rather comprehensive understanding of a complex topic that you might find startling.

Sex. Sex. Sex. Now that I've got your attention, Joann Ellison Rodgers, winner of the Lasker Award for medical journalism, has authored "Sex: A Natural History."

The topic is stripped down. The biology, genetics, psychology, and so on of sex are examined. Why do men have a propensity for sleep after an orgasm? Why is the brain the engine of sex? How does smell play a part in a woman's choice of a mate?

Rodgers discusses numerous theories. Scientific studies on animals, insects and humans are used frequently. Careful attention and rereads are par for the course for the lay person. Some of the text seems more at home in medical journals. However, she sustains our attention with humor and an upbeat tone.

Getting to "yes" with the right people is an amazingly more subtle and complex process than one would imagine. Rodgers carefully examines the many aspects that entail sex: attraction, flirtation, arousal, love, and fidelity. The author's scientific treatise on sex is not dumbed down and still remains accessible. At times, the countless studies of fruit flies, monkeys and other hapless creatures went overboard for my taste. Nevertheless, the data presented confirms the notion that sex coevolved through cooperation, not conflict.

In conclusion, Rodgers successfully showcases sex and its evolutionary wonders. But she admits, "No, we don't know (yet) exactly why sex evolved, or why there are thorns among the roses." Attempting to answer questions about the history of sex is akin to untying the Gordian knot. Some questions may remain unanswered for awhile or perhaps forever. Overall the romp through "Sex" was didactic and entertaining.

Bohdan Kot

Great book, highly recommend; Evolutionary history of sex. If you want to know why things work the way they work. A book you might want to own instead of borrowing in the library. Open in the middle and read any chapter....

I haven't finished the book, but so far I haven't found many parallels between my own experience with sex and those presented in the book. My wife and I were great sex partners until I contracted Parkinson's (age 35); and she lost her source of estrogen (hysterectomy) at age 43. My loss of coordination and her loss of desire sounded a death knell on our intimacy. I was hoping to find some possible solutions to our dilemma, but so far no luck!

This Book is not meant to be an incredible mind bending guide, or an extremely dull informative textbook. Instead this is a book in the middle of both extremes, it provides interesting information without being boring about the evolutionary process sex has take over history. This book is not some Hopper guide to great sex, but rather an interesting historical/scientific view of sex. For those who are interested in love, touch, relationships, and sex.

....when I would find sex so boring! But somehow this author, like my ex-wife, managed to pull it off!!! The prose is plodding and the material is disorganized. If you've read and enjoyed other "natural history of" books, you will be bitterly disappointed by this one. The author lacks the ability to wax poetic about her subject like Diane Ackerman. There are also few good scientific yarns or the kind of gee-whiz stuff that you might expect--or hope--from a book about one of the primary preoccupations of mankind! Wait for the movie.