Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Between Men and Women

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2020

I got this book because it was recommended by Ryan Holiday. Its pretty sexist and attempts to prove that there is a biological basis for men being violent. Some parts, the sciency bits are kinda interesting, but the research seems a bit outdated (like explaining the revolutionary technology of an MRI scan) and the conclusions are clearly biased.

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hijodeganas

Highly informative view of sex differences

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2013

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I've been interested in differences between men and women since I've been interested in women, but I've found it hard to encounter information on this topic that wasn't somehow tainted in (if not completely about) gender studies, psychology or sociology. This book was as scientific as the snow is white. While not altogether cohesive - topics range from rape to neurological differences - the book was surprisingly balanced and objective while at the same time enjoyable to read.

If you are looking for an unbiased, no-nonsense book with ample research and information, I would recommend this book.

3 people found this helpful

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Caeser Pink

Humor avoids bias

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2001

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If the material in this book had been approached with a dogmatic view of gender politics this could have been a miserable read. The author's sense of humor about gender issues was refreshing and seemed to allow her to approach the sometimes controversial issues with an unbiased attitude. The chapters on hormones were very interesting, and the stories of children chasing the family cat with a toothbrush turned into a toy gun were quite funny. A lot of thought provoking material is compiled from scientific studies done around the world.

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James McMurrin

Definitely not a tight plot

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2005

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Deborah Blum was "raised in one of those university-based, liberal-elite families" and as such, was raised to believe that there were no differences between men and women. It wasn't until she had her own career, a husband, and two boys that she actually realized there were basic biological differences between male and female behaviour. Her son was playing dinosaur and "I looked down at him one day as he was snarling around my feet and doing his toddler best to gnaw off my right leg, and I thought, This is not a girl thing-- this goes deeper than culture."

So begins her book. Much of the evidence that is presented is done as studies of sex in other animals (the birds and the monkeys- yes, literally) and her lines of reasoning as to "how this happened" are based along lines of possible biological evolutional forces- things that she admits are really little more than educated guesses dressed up as theories.

The chapter on the differences between male and female brains was interesting in that she spent about 90% of the time either denying the validity of the studies or minimizing the verified physical results. (Sure, that spot is bigger, but we don't know that it does anything.)

Occasionally, you come across a gem of the absurd. This one is a good example:

"One leading French scientist of the nineteenth century sought to prove the existence and potency of this magical male stuff [testosterone] by injecting himself with pureed dog testes. He insisted that the extract boosted his energy and sex drive and enabled him to pee in a higher arc, a major issue for men, obviously, in contrast to women." (pg. 158, beginning of chapter six)

She is quite open and forthright about her own left of center feminist viewpoint on the whole subject, and freely gives her opinion on what she WANTS to be true (and making it clear that it IS her opinion).

One basic concept to follow underneath it all is that if evolution has made us "this way" (biologically), there is no reason to conclude that it has stopped now... and since we have the ability to change our culture, we may tap into evolutionary pressures to change the biology of our race in regards to the basic makeup of our sexes. At the end of the book, she admits she has no idea if this is really possible, but it's obvious that she feels it certainly ought to be. Given her basic premises, it is a logical conclusion. If you look at the past as having created this current biology from something else, why should the process stop now?

But to sum it up, I have to agree with the comments about tediousness, in particular towards the end. The last third or so of the book was read simply so I could be satisfied that I had read it, not because it still had my riveted and interested attention. It would have benefited either from a better organization of the material into a coherent overall development (aka a plot, if this were fiction) or of simply dropping the last third of the book.

29 people found this helpful

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Allfruit

Nursing School Books are required and are chosen carefully! I am an RN now so they worked well :)

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2016

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This book was required for my nursing school - BSN program. I feel the selection of books my program chose were all very informative, to the point and we used the books for the classes that required them. During nursing school most people do not know where their career will take them, there are so many options the RN has available, so building a strong foundation is essential to success in the field. Nursing books are not written to be entertaining they are for educational purpose only. This book definitely offered education. After you graduate school and chose a path then find the best reference book you can find and carry it with you until the day you retire. I always recommend the additional study guide to a book if one is available.

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EnjoysAmazonchdnbks

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2015

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Required by the high school teacher.

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Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2017

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Delivered as promised.

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Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2013

Deborah Blum (born 1954) is an American journalist, whose book The Monkey Wars won a Pulitzer Prize; she has written other books such as Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection , The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York , Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death , etc.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 book, "There comes a moment in everyone's life when the opposite sex suddenly appears to be an alien species... In my childhood, every human being---regardless of gender---was exactly alike... barring his or her different opportunities... It wasn't until I became a parent... of two boys---that I realized I had been fed a line... This dawned on me during my older son's dionsaur phase... I looked down on him one day as he was snarling around my feet and doing his toddler best to gnaw off my right leg and I thought, This is not a girl thing---this does deeper than culture." (Pg. xiii-xiv)

She observes, "There is an overall [male/female brain] size difference: by weighing and measuring hundreds of human brains, researchers have found that, in general, men's brains are about 15 percent larger than women's brains. This means an average difference of about three ounces, in brains that weigh about 2.5 pounds. The logical assumption is that men need a bigger brain to move those bigger bodies. But, in fact, the parts of the brain that control large muscle movement are not outsized in men and do not seem to account for the overall difference. More than any other gender comparison, it's fair to say that feminist scholars hate this one the most." (Pg. 37-38)

She states, "There is, actually, a quite solid evolutionary argument for a spatial reasoning difference between the sexes. It's supported by some good research work using both animals and humans in mazes, but not by any clearly visible difference in human brains (sigh). The evolutionary argument is based---aren't they all?---in pure sex." (Pg. 53) She adds, "There is... some consistency to studies finding that boys do better in math-based schoolwork and girls possess a verbal edge. The most comprehensive study of test differences... found these results: In math and science, boys in the top ten percent outnumbered girls three to one. In the top one percent, there were seven boys for every one girl. In some mechanical-vocational tests, such as electronics and auto repair, there were no girls in the top three percent." (Pg. 58)

She suggests, "Evolutionary psychology offers some reasonable speculation as to why males, in general, seem so much more aggressive than females... males must compete hard in order to become fathers... That male reality demanded aggression and rules with which to contain it---hierarchy, competition, dominance. The testosterone drive is part of that, a source or a result." (Pg. 178-179)

If one is looking for a scholarly survey of psychological "sex differences," one should look elsewhere [e.g., The Psychology of Sex Differences , Psychology of Sex Differences ]. But for an engagingly-written popular-level book, Blum's books are hard to beat.

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Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2013

Deborah Blum (born 1954) is an American journalist, whose book The Monkey Wars won a Pulitzer Prize; she has written other books such as Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection , The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York , Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death , etc.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 book, "There comes a moment in everyone's life when the opposite sex suddenly appears to be an alien species... In my childhood, every human being---regardless of gender---was exactly alike... barring his or her different opportunities... It wasn't until I became a parent... of two boys---that I realized I had been fed a line... This dawned on me during my older son's dionsaur phase... I looked down on him one day as he was snarling around my feet and doing his toddler best to gnaw off my right leg and I thought, This is not a girl thing---this does deeper than culture." (Pg. xiii-xiv)

She observes, "There is an overall [male/female brain] size difference: by weighing and measuring hundreds of human brains, researchers have found that, in general, men's brains are about 15 percent larger than women's brains. This means an average difference of about three ounces, in brains that weigh about 2.5 pounds. The logical assumption is that men need a bigger brain to move those bigger bodies. But, in fact, the parts of the brain that control large muscle movement are not outsized in men and do not seem to account for the overall difference. More than any other gender comparison, it's fair to say that feminist scholars hate this one the most." (Pg. 37-38)

She states, "There is, actually, a quite solid evolutionary argument for a spatial reasoning difference between the sexes. It's supported by some good research work using both animals and humans in mazes, but not by any clearly visible difference in human brains (sigh). The evolutionary argument is based---aren't they all?---in pure sex." (Pg. 53) She adds, "There is... some consistency to studies finding that boys do better in math-based schoolwork and girls possess a verbal edge. The most comprehensive study of test differences... found these results: In math and science, boys in the top ten percent outnumbered girls three to one. In the top one percent, there were seven boys for every one girl. In some mechanical-vocational tests, such as electronics and auto repair, there were no girls in the top three percent." (Pg. 58)

She suggests, "Evolutionary psychology offers some reasonable speculation as to why males, in general, seem so much more aggressive than females... males must compete hard in order to become fathers... That male reality demanded aggression and rules with which to contain it---hierarchy, competition, dominance. The testosterone drive is part of that, a source or a result." (Pg. 178-179)

If one is looking for a scholarly survey of psychological "sex differences," one should look elsewhere [e.g., The Psychology of Sex Differences , Psychology of Sex Differences ]. But for an engagingly-written popular-level book, Blum's books are hard to beat.

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Felix Sonderkammer

Journalistic not scientific

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2005

Blum's style is horrendous. She traipses from one anecdote about her son to the findings of scientists she has interviewed without the blink of an eye. She does not so much advance arguments or conclusions as much as merely advance dumbed-down versions of scientific studies. Matters such as which questions underlie the research and what the research reveals are interspersed with bad puns and Blum's own opinion as to whether something is insulting or disgusting. Her attempts to lighten the fare are patronizing and distracting.

She wrote way too much about non-humans. This or that primate species is simply not the human species. The differences between them are so great that their relevance for the human species does not seem to be established.

Most of the research she chose was physiological, behavioral, and anthropological. Evolutionary biology (a.k.a. sociobiology) gets only occasional treatment, despite its recent progress in explaining male and female differences.

Note also that the book was published in 1997. I write in 2005, so the book is eight years old. Try to find something more up to date on the subject.

Overall, the book's faults can most easily be attributed to the fact that the author is a journalist and not a scientist. She sarificed too much to appealing to the general readership and is not well-schooled in the science of human sex differences herself.

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