Do You like book Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice To All Creation (2003)?
We read this for my book group. Olivia Judson is an evolutionary biologist who makes her living studying the mating behaviors of various species. She writes for both The Economist and the New York Times.For this book, she takes on the persona of Dr. Tatiana, a Dear Abbey-like sex therapist, who fields letters from all sorts of animals having troubles in the bedroom. Here's one example: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. . . .Do you find this too?I Like 'Em Headless in LondonShe then goes on to provide her advice to this insect, but really, she's just explaining the science and evolutionary possibilities for the very odd sexual behaviors we find in nature.I thought this was an interesting book. Probably would have been enough to just read a long article, but interesting none-the-less.
—Leslie
2.5 stars.Sigh. This is the kind of book that I really want to like. It is jam-packed full of information about reproduction, biology, life cycles, etc. throughout all kinds of life forms (with an emphasis on insects, it seems). What's more: the references are extensive; every "column" has its own section in back where she cites each claim's source. I was impressed with the documentation and with the wealth of knowledge.So why only 2.5 stars? There are a couple of reasons:1. The format concept. It's written like an advice column in Cosmo or something. But the "answers" ramble on and on and she'll make disparate points in one "answer," it doesn't seem to gel together for me. Also it's a lot of the same kind of stuff over and over, and while there was some truly fascinating things in here, I feel like I'm going to forget most of this information within a week. There was nothing to make the separate pieces of information stick in my head, with few exceptions (which had more to do with shocking reality of things--like in the spotted hyena's case--than with her writing). I've read other books and articles that deal with similar topics and the writers manage to make the information novel enough and different enough to stay in my memory.2. The tone of the book. Because it's written like a Cosmo column, the persistent "I'm super cool and sassy" delivery distracted me and got old pretty quickly. In this vein: she uses the word "slut," wonders if rape in the animal kingdom is really the result of females "asking for it," constantly uses the words "girls" and "boys" to describe mature animals engaging in reproductive sex... She anthropomorphizes a lot a lot a lot (which I don't have an issue with in itself, really, it just seems to make things more confusing in this case). She seems to think "radical feminists" hate men and want to destroy them. Which I found odd, since she's apparently a pretty smart scientist (degrees from Stanford, Oxford) and the vast majority of her acknowledgements go to males; you'd think she'd know better than anyone the challenges women face in the sciences. But maybe that's exactly the problem--maybe in order to make it that far she's had to ingratiate herself or something. Who knows? I don't. But I do know I didn't appreciate that aspect of it.
—Paige
This is an excellent book about the the sexual habits of life (not just humans, but all life), examined from an evolutionary perspective. The material is whimsically presented as a collection of sex advice columns from Dr. Tatiana: think Dr. Ruth giving advice to insects and fish, reptiles and mammals. An example of a “letter” from one of her readers, early in the book:“Dear Dr. Tatiana,My boyfriend is the handsomest golden potto I ever saw. He's got beautiful golden fur on his back, creamy white fur on his belly, he smells delicious, and he has ever such dainty hands and feet. There's just one thing. Please Dr. Tatiana, why is his penis covered with enormous spines?”Most of the book is focused on animal sexual behavior, but plants and even bacteria are both also touched on. In a remarkable way, the book deanthropomorphizes sex by first anthropomorphizing it, a tricky task to be sure. The writing is humorous, ribald, and highly intelligent. A wide range of topics and behaviors are covered, including such wide ranging mysteries as complex genitalia, promiscuity in both males and females, sperm competition, asexuality, cannibalism of mates, the strange and rare situation of monogamy, hermaphroditism, homosexuality, and incest. And while most of the book is focused on non-human sexual behavior, humans are not left out, with many of the chapters applying some of the factors to human sex and reproduction.Having heard the author (Olivia Judson, a science writer/journalist with a PhD in evolutionary biology from Stanford) speak about the book a few months ago, I must admit that I also "read" the book in her British accent, something which may have added an extra touch of atmosphere. There is definitely a British sense of humor underlying much of the book.Highly recommended!
—This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For