- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Chatto & Windus (15 Aug 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0701169257
- ISBN-13: 978-0701169251
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
498,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25 in Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Animal Sciences > Reproduction
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More About the Authors
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Product Description
Melvin J. Konner, author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the
'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'
Matt Ridley, author of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
'Never has science seemed more like daytime television.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dr Tatiana offers helpful advice on a full and satisfying sex life (for optimal reproduction purposes) to a wide range of clients, from insects to bacteria, birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, plants and fungi. Occasional comparisons and parallels are drawn between the sexual practices and 'oddities' of the clients and human sexual habits.
This is how it's set out:
It starts with an explanatory note from Dr Tatiana.
The chapters each start with a short introduction, followed by a selection of letters (from correspondents troubled about their peculiar sex lives) and helpful replies from Dr Tatiana. Chapters end with a brief conclusion.
The chapters are divided into 3 parts. Chapters 1 to 5, 'Let Slip the Whores of War!', cover the battle of the sexes; Chapters 6 to 10, 'The Evolution of Depravity', cover the more extreme and beastly methods employed by the warring sexes; Chapters 11 to 13, 'Are Men Necessary?', looks at why sexual reproduction might be preferred to asexual reproduction.
The book ends with extensive notes, bibliography and an index.
It was a great pleasure to read this hoard of extraordinary sex stories - so many different life-forms and their astonishing variety of sexual behaviours, all tied together to make a sensible whole. It's a fascinating subject and Olivia Judson presents the facts with clarity and humour, bless her. I vaguely remember how sex was covered in biology lessons at school, 3 decades ago - it was dry, boring and embarrassing. This book is the opposite of that. It's unashamedly rude and funny. It sizzles. Now I know that even birds and bees get up to the most incredible antics in their struggle to reproduce. If they could have made the subject seem even half as interesting as this when I was a pupil, I would have bothered to study.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A thoroughly entertaining account of sex and its role in evolution. It is very witty and made me laugh out loud at times. Well presented and the author oviously knows her subject. It is astoundingly good at explaining difficult concepts. I found it's great strength was it's ability to make you stop and think. Very challenging at times. It is a "must have" for your bookshelf.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whether the reader is a newcomer or season ticket holder with regards the comparative sex behaviour literature, this volume will surely prove itself to be both tremendously entertaining and educational. Judson?s novel ?agony aunt? Q & A style of presentation makes for a clearly accessible text for a wide audience of all ages and levels of understanding. This is a great way to impart much of the bewildering array of comparative morphology and associated knowledge concerning the rich diversity of sexual behaviour across a broad swathe of species. This book will surely attract many from the younger generation to the study of evolutionary and comparative biology/psychology. Many of us will wish that we had written this one! Not only do we read here about the birds and the bees?, mammalian phyla are well represented throughout the 13 chapters. The full tour includes gender differences (as well as similarities) and the how?s and why?s of the sex that might take place between them, whether that be in (serial) monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, or even parthenogenetic circumstances. The implications of each section for our better understanding of human sexual behaviours (both normal and abnormal) are rarely explicit, and for the most part (possibly intentionally so), are presented rather tongue-in-cheek. This is not a failing of the work, however. There is ample material here to occupy the lateral-thinking reader in this regard.
Although this book makes for a terrific vacation or conference-trip read whilst in transit, it also has much of seriousness to offer the student of comparative psychology, sociology, anthropology, zoology or medicine. For those wishing to cut to the chase with the primary literature concerning particular issues, over 20 pages of extensively referenced notes are provided. Although by no means dealing extensively with theoretical issues in the aetiology of particular sex behaviours, we do meet (albeit briefly) with Darwin, Fisher, Hamilton, Bateman, Muller and Wallace. The notes cover every "Dear Dr. Tatiana..." Q & A presented in the book, and could well form the basis of core tutorial reading and/or stimulation for small group discussions.
A welcome volume for the shelf at home as much as for the academic library, unless you?re comfortable with the public at large thinking that you?re undergoing sex therapy counseling, be sure to carry it in a brown paper bag when moving between the two!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Everything you ever wanted to know about sex and more
I first read this book a few years ago after I accidentally bought it from a book club (one of those where they send you an 'editor's choice' every month, and I'd forgotten to... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2009 by Kerry
Eye(I)-opening
Anyone who thinks that the pundits have figured out the physiological basis, and therefore a justifiable superiority, for prescribing our sexual behavour should read this book. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2009 by Mr. P. G. Hill
Must buy
This is such a good book! It's packed with facts and they are presented in an original fashion, magazine-agony-aunt style, with letters from animals round the world asking for... Read more
Published on 2 May 2004 by Ms. I. Robinson
Listmania!
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