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Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex Paperback – Unabridged, May 1, 2003
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A sex guide for all living things and a hilarious natural history in the form of letters to and answers from the preeminent sexpert in all creation.
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation is a unique guidebook to sex. It reveals, for example, when necrophilia is acceptable and who should commit bestiality with whom. It discloses the best time to have a sex change, how to have a virgin birth, and when to eat your lover. It also advises on more mundane matters -- such as male pregnancy and the joys of a detachable penis.
Entertaining, funny, and marvelously illuminating, the book comprises letters from all creatures worried about their bizarre sex lives to the wise Dr. Tatiana (a.k.a. Olivia Judson), the only sex columnist in creation with a prodigious knowledge of evolutionary biology. Fusing natural history with advice to the lovelorn, blending wit and rigor, she is able to reassure her anxious correspondents that although the acts they describe might sound appalling and unnatural, they are all perfectly normal -- so long as you are not a human. In the process, she explains the science behind it all, from Darwin's theory of sexual selection to why sexual reproduction exists at all. Applying human standards to the natural world, in the end she reveals the wonders of both.
"Delightful . . . Easy to understand and hard to resist, it's sex education at its prime -- accurate, comprehensive, and hilarious." -- Newsweek
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMay 1, 2003
- Dimensions5.55 x 1.05 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-109780805063325
- ISBN-13978-0805063325
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Editorial Reviews
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“Captivating . . . An evolutionary biologist with interesting and amusing things to tell us.” ―The Wall Street Journal
“Funny and blissfully original . . . Dr. Tatiana's science is first-rate.” ―The Economist
“Erasmus Darwin titillated 18th century London with his poem 'The Loves of Plants.' He never new the half of it. Dr. Tatiana knows how the other half loves, and it's much kinkier than anybody imagined. Never has science seemed more like daytime television.” ―Matt Ridley, author of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
“Human? Lucky you! You rate a delightful romp through the weird, wild world of animal sex, with a guide who really knows the, um, ins and outs. Eavesdrop as Dr. T consoles her clients, from frustrated fruit flies to lovelorn golden pottos. You think you have problems? You could be a green spoon worm who's just inhaled her husband, or a peacock ashamed of his fifth-rate feathers. Count your blessings, primate. Then read, learn, enjoy.” ―Melvin J. Konner, author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit
“Perhaps the most original advice manual ever written . . . Judson has pulled off the rarest coup: a science book that's actually fun to read.” ―The New Republic
“Whimsical, irreverent and illuminating . . . A most amusing and educative book on animal sex.” ―San Francisco Chronicle
“Judson's witty, well-researched vignettes are a guilty pleasure, natural history that goes down as sweet as a trashy tell-all.” ―Outside
“Wonderfully entertaining and authoritative . . . A stimulating feast of extraordinary sexual practices.” ―Nature
“More positions than the Kama Sutra-but don't try this at home!” ―Steve Jones, author of The Language of Genes: Solving the Mysteries of Our Genetic Past, Present and Future
“Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation is a thoroughly engaging and exhaustively researched account of the numerous different kinds of sexual behavior that biologists have observed in the natural world. By human standards, much of this behavior is quite kinky (my favorite is the description of blow hole sex among Amazon River dolphins). However, as Olivia Judson explains, it is quite natural within its own context.” ―Richard Morris, author of The Evolutionists: The Struggle for Darwin's Soul
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
By Judson, OliviaOwl Books
Copyright ©2003 Judson, OliviaAll right reserved.
ISBN: 0805063323
From Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation:
Dear Dr. Tatiana,
I’m a European praying mantis, and I’ve noticed I enjoy sex more if I bite my lovers’ heads off first. Somehow they then seem less inhibited, more urgent—it’s fabulous. Do you find this too? -- I Like ’Em Headless in Lisbon
Some of my best friends are man-eaters, but between you and me, cannibalism isn’t my bag. I can see why you like it, though. Males of your species are boring lovers. Beheading them works wonders: whereas a headless chicken rushes wildly about, a headless mantis thrashes in a sexual frenzy. Why can’t he be that way when he’s whole?
Continues...
Excerpted from Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation by Judson, Olivia Copyright ©2003 by Judson, Olivia. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- ASIN : 0805063323
- Publisher : Holt Paperbacks; First Edition (May 1, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780805063325
- ISBN-13 : 978-0805063325
- Item Weight : 10.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.55 x 1.05 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #100,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #81 in Natural History (Books)
- #174 in Anatomy (Books)
- #262 in General Gender Studies
- Customer Reviews:
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For example, a yellow dung fly wants to know how to make its sperm more attractive; a fig wasp wonders why all the males she knows bite each other in half; an elephant is worried because its penis has turned green; a mother manatee frets because her son appears to prefer other males.
It turns out that homosexuality is common in the animal world, that femals are mostly promiscuous and that monogomy is exceedingly rare in nature, (she calls it one of the most deviant behaviors in biology) and that the battle of the sexes is real and can be brutal (and the females often win).
This book is a breezy read. Tatiana is a witty raconteur with an apparently inexhaustible font of knowledge about the weird and wonderful world of sex. The point of existence, she maintains, is to survive and reproduce. Genetic mutations and behavioral modifications that confer an advantage in pursuing these goals will flourish. Species that do not adapt will die out.
Though written in a jokey way, this is a serious book. It provides a wonderful picture of the sheer vast variation of the natural world and the dynamic pace of evolution.
Perfect for the teen interested in science (and sex) and for all curious adults.
For more about me and my book The Nazi Hunter: A Novel , (where the sex is tastefully done) go to [...]
This is a truly creative work, formatted in a style to teach and bring enjoyment. Recommended for serious biologists, people who know nothing about biology, people who hate biology, people interested in sex, and those who like the gossip columns. If you're not in one of those categories, you probably won't like this book. Or any other.
Mother Nature's been having some fun.
Take nothing for granted! Remember,
You won't find any rules -- not a one!"
And not just regarding gender (where, by the way, there are more than two) -- DR. TATIANA'S SEX ADVICE TO ALL CREATION shows that species are coloring outside the lines in every aspect of sex, including seduction; mating; fertilization; monogamy and promiscuity; nesting and child-rearing ... showing that anything that leads to propagation of the species (and explaining why it does) is fair game for an evolutionary adaptation.
In an advice-column Q&A, fretful letters submitted by anthropomorphized creatures (from micro-organisms to mammals) are answered by Dr. Tatiana (aka evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson), in a voice that's an amusing mix of Dr. Ruth and Miss Manners. An assertion that damselflies have evolved "some of the fanciest penises around" caught my attention early on, and nature's inventiveness just got more interesting from there. The content is surprisingly substantive, and the light style keeps it terrifically accessible.
Top reviews from other countries
From a young age I've always been fascinated by 'why' and 'how' and understanding the reasoning for things, and I'll happily watch some wildlife expert ramble on about some animal I've never heard of before on TV, marvelling at stunning photography and film and the presenter's knowledge of the animal. Having studied psychology at undergraduate level, including social psychology and family groupings and types of relationships, I found Dr Tatiana's advice provided some useful background to the biological basis of some aspects of human social and sexual behaviour (and in fact I used examples from Dr Tatiana in essays during my degree), and a fascinating glimpse into what animals get up to behind closed doors so to speak.
I haven't studied science/biology for a long time now, but Dr Tatiana provides a comprehensive overview of the full range of sexual behaviours across the animal kingdom for those studying biology/evolutionary biology, psychology and related subjects, complete with an extensive bibliography and references at the end of the book (as well as additional explanation where needed in the text), while providing an informative and entertaining read for anyone who just has an interest in the subject. No previous knowledge is required, the long words are explained, and if Dr Tatiana proves anything, it's that there's no such thing as 'normal' sexual behaviour - there are some strange animals out there! But then again, they'd probably think our sexual behaviour's somewhat odd too...
I've just bought another copy of this for a friend, as think (hope) he'll appreciate the humour of the book, and being one of those people who knows a vast amount about nothing in particular, he'll hopefully end up with some more facts, backed by biology, to add to his repository of knowledge, even if it's only that as a species we're a bit of an oddity, and that if they could talk, the animals around would be asking us why on earth we have sex when we know there's no chance of conception, why human females don't display some sort of sign that they're at their most fertile, and why human males limit their chances of passing on their genes to the next generation by staying (largely) with only one partner and continuing to have sex even after she's no longer able to conceive. A fascinating read!















