Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice To All Creation: Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex Paperback – 5 Jun 2003

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.

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.

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.Read 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 cancel it). When it arrived though the title sounded intriguing and the blurb on the cover sounded fascinating, so I started to read it. I was glad I did.

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!Read more ›