The Female Brain
by Louann Brizendine M.D.
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.53 You Save: $17.42 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.50 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Female Brain
Book Review: Light on science, heavy on anecdote and pro-drug message.
Summary: 3 Stars
I just finished reading this book to help me understand the females in my life. I'm a XY chromosomal type.
Things I liked:
1. simple chronological development of changing hormonal, structural, and social aspects surrounding the female brain through life stages.
2. modern comentary on menopause, fertility, career, and relationships related to female hormones and brain development.
3. different perspective of woman than "Maxim" or other mens mags present.
Dissapointing aspects of book:
1. seemingly embedded advertisement for "Zoloft" in many anecdotes. I don't think necessary to use specific brand name of drug used since many drugs in same class. I'm affraid many solutions to the anecdotal hormonal/brain development challenges amounted to a prescription of some sort of blockbuster $$$ drug.
2. book reads much like a collection of therapy anecdotes and not a lot of hard science, statistics, or actual brain stuff.
3. reading book can give the impression the female brain/psychy is dominated by hormonal extremes and fraught with instability.
4. Book has ~40% of pages dedicated to a bibliography of sorts. Very light read overal, finished in ~3 hours reading.
Book Review: Science with a Slant
Summary: 2 Stars
Don't read this book if you're looking for science without a social agenda. It correctly "discovers" the differences between the male brain and female brain, but apparently concludes that the female brain is good and the male brain needs adjustment. The book was hyped on 20/20 (ABC-TV) and in Science News, among other places. On 20/20 the author lectured a group of teens on the differences between the male and female brains and associated behaviors, then proceeded to instruct the boys about correcting their male behavior. Science News noted that according to the book, "while male brains remain relatively stable day-to-day, female brains are subjected to fluctuating concentrations of estrogen, progesterone, and other hormones that subject women to a range of emotional experiences". The author concludes that this is good because it makes women more adaptable, remembering minute details of emotion-laden events that men forget even happened. I guess if you get different interpretations of measured data depending on the day of the week, that's good science!!! Isn't that what men have been saying for years about women, and getting fired for it? In math and science you try to control the "variables".Book Review: Engaging and fascinating
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr. Brizendine manages to make a book with fifty-eight pages of references a delight to read. This is a book about the female human brain, but it's also a guide to the male brain. I've insisted that my fifteen-year-old son read this book, because it will help him to make sense of the alien mental landscape of his female peers.
Lazy reviewers are going to accuse the author of biological reductionism, i.e., of making women slaves to their biology. She explains over and over again that understanding one's neurobiology and hormonal climate allows one to make better-informed choices about life.
Some people may not like the way that she tackles the subject of love, but the evidence is clearly on her side. Oxytocin and vasopressin have a whole lot more to do with love than naked winged babies with archery gear.
My one criticism of the book lies in the author's clinical focus. She has spent a lot of time dealing with dysfunctional women, and her book sometimes focuses too much on pathology rather than on the broad normal range of experience. Still, it's a solid book.
Book Review: On the way to becoming a classic
Summary: 5 Stars
There is a reason this book was on Washington Post's Best Non-Fiction list in 2006.
After reading The Female Brain, I was suddenly the woman with the answer. I was recommending the book to co-workers, frustrated parents of tweens and teens, cab drivers, and all in my social circle. What Brizendine has done is to explain female behavior in such a way that anyone who is willing to spend the time can understand and appreciate the influence of biochemical changes in the body and brain.
The book is divided into 7 chapters. With the introduction, epilogue, and Appendix added the book is under 200 pages of reading. For me, this is the perfect commuter length for city travel.
Brizendine begins with a basic chart showing the relationship of age to hormonal and behavioral changes. I found this helpful in separating the various hormones. All those hormone names ending in gen, rone, or ocin.
I believe this book will become a classic, I certainly hope it does.
Book Review: Interesting read
Summary: 2 Stars
I found the book interesting from the standpoint of the infinite emotional fluxuation women seem to deal with explained scientifically. As a man I have always wanted a woman, devoid of feminism and emotion to try to explain why women act the way they do. That is not to say that I feel superior, I have always just been facinated by the "differences" in how men and women think and how women approach issues, problems, and joys differently than men. I have been married to the same woman for over 35 years, and have had a constant, close companion as a study.
This book however, and is the reason for the low rating, is really just a modern version of the feminist movement of the 60's. Move on already ...
It is worth reading, but if you are a man, be prepaired to be exposed to an image of men dragging their knuckles and drool running from the corner of their mouths.
Brain envy ... hardly!