Customer Reviews

Understanding Human Sexuality

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the text used in my Human Sexuality course at Western Michigan University in the fall of 2007. I enjoyed reading it, very thorough and indepth, covering a wide range of sexual topics. The authors, who are also educators, use humor at times in the text, as well as paying respect to the seriousness of the topic. Very fair and unbiased in my opinion on it's take of sexual pathways taken in life. It includes a CD-ROM which has additional information from each chapter in the form of discussions and interviews the student can watch. A text that is user friendly, and incorporates a wide variety of psychological patheways and perspectives, without endorsing one as "correct." I would recommend it to any Professor teaching the course.

Buy either the 8th or 9th edition. I bought the 8th edition Understanding Human Sexuality with Student CD ROM and PowerWeb and compared my text book with a friend who bought the 10th edition. All that's different is the chapters are spaced differently. All the information needed is still contained within the past editions. I passed my class with a 98%. Save yourself plenty of money and buy past editions for classes you can get away with it in. (For example, human sexuality or anatomy. Chemistry and Math do need current editions since the problems change.)

Textbook that teachess you about sexual behaviors like it says.

Has very interesting pictures to show you exactly what is going on.

I enjoyed reading this book by myself while my teacher talked on about other things and the videos were interesting and fun to watch

While this book does contain some good information, particularly in the chapters detailing the physiological side of sexuality, it greatly oversimplifies the subjective aspects of sexuality. Throughout the text, the authors present a married, monogamous, nuclear family lifestyle as the most valid expression of human sexuality, despite the fact that fewer and fewer people are choosing to structure their lives according to this standard. This attitude is particularly apparent in the chapters discussing sexual orientation, sexual variation, commercial sex, and other deviations from this ideal, always assuming that the reader isn't a member of any group discussed in these chapters and often presenting cliches about these groups as facts. While the book doesn't come out and espouse bigotry against any sexual minority groups, it also doesn't do much to challenge the stereotypes that inform such bigotry, either.

In short: buy this book if you want to know about anatomy, reproduction, contraception, or STIs. Don't buy this book if you're more interested in the psychology of sex.

I ordered this textbook because I needed it for my Human Sexuality course, but it's turning out to be a fun read even separate from class. It's very informative and well-written; it begins by defining "sexuality" and delves deeper into what we know about sex today. I usually want to sell my used books after a class ends but I am keeping this one--it's too good to give up! ;)

Lots of photos of gonads, but never coitus. Too many unnecessary excerpts with inappropriate language. Stats need to be updated - get the new edition.

I had to buy this book for a class and expected it to be very dry and... well.. a textbook. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find humor from the authors of this book, allowing me to actually enjoy a required reading. The book is written in an easy to understand language that doesnt boggle the mind and overwhelm. Great book!

no matter how experienced a person can be in sex, we all must read this book. it not only gives basic understanding of sexual behavior and act, it also goes over other ares like understanding transvestites, fetish, sexual diseases, etc...

This is a great textbook. It's clearly written, and it's actually enjoyable to read. The author appears to have had a good time writing it, and included many limericks, engaging examples, and other items that make this textbook anything but dry.

This textbook is well-written and explains the material well. Furthermore, it is very interesting: when giving examples of concepts, it uses relevant yet fascinating examples from American and other cultures (for example, in chapter 2 it explains how the social learning theory helps explain sexuality; its example was how the Sambian boys adjust to heterosexual marriage after they spend 7 - 10 years in strict homosexual living conditions!).

The only downside to this textbook is that the liberal bias in this book is very apparent. Even though I agree with virtually all of the stances that they take, the authors could have done a better job to at least present the right wing's side. In addition, they even go out of their way to praise Democrats and make the Republicans seem entirely wrong and ignorant (the passage that comes to mind is when they dedicated a whole page to political issues in Chapter 2, and they threw out all of the right's dirty laundry, but only showed the accomplishments for the left).

In brief, the book gets the job done, and it gets it done interestingly; however, I think that the book would be infinitely more effective if it presented just academic knowledge without any political spin.