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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Great book! It is a fantastic combination of science, history and reflection. Although it is definitely one to read with Google at hand and a good understanding of anatomy.
I'm not a dumb lady. But science hasn't really ever been my thing (which is why it's funny that I teach my human sexuality course in a biology department). I've been wanting to read more science stuff but also a little apprehensive about it, so a book about genetic mutations with a cover as awesome as this one was just what I needed. There were pieces of the book that lost me a little bit in their attention to scientific detail, but overall the writing was sharp and often funny, as well as thoroughly thought provoking. The line between mutation and evolution is a thin one indeed, and that's just a piece of what made this book so intriguing. If you want to just dip into this book, you can totally read a chapter here and there. There isn't really a big thread through the whole book, so no reason to feel obligated to read cover to cover. Except that you just might want to read all of it - I did.
My absolute favorite chapter was the one about skin ("A Fragile Bubble"). Leroi teases out fascinating threads about race, culture, and the meaning of hair through this chapter. Plenty of food for thought.
The reason I didn't give the book more than three stars is that the chapter about sex made me kind of furious. There is some really beautiful writing in the chapter about intersex conditions, plus some great historical illustrations. But the underpinings of the chapter are fucked up: Leroi keeps using the word "gender" to mean the biological manifestation of reproductive organs. No. No. NO. Ugh - I really don't understand how competent (though I guess that's questionable) writers/researchers mix up sex and gender, especially in the biological context. Though there has been some (inconclusive) research about the link between gender identity and biological sex (the latter is the combination of hormones, chromosomes, and genitals - so the identified sex at birth doesn't always correspond to biology), gender is an innate sense of being, NOT explicitly biological. Point being, Leroi keeps writing "gender" when he should be using the word "sex" - and it made me want to scream. It also seems like he couldn't really flex his head around issues of queer identities and orientations, which is a pity in an otherwise pretty awesome book.
My absolute favorite chapter was the one about skin ("A Fragile Bubble"). Leroi teases out fascinating threads about race, culture, and the meaning of hair through this chapter. Plenty of food for thought.
The reason I didn't give the book more than three stars is that the chapter about sex made me kind of furious. There is some really beautiful writing in the chapter about intersex conditions, plus some great historical illustrations. But the underpinings of the chapter are fucked up: Leroi keeps using the word "gender" to mean the biological manifestation of reproductive organs. No. No. NO. Ugh - I really don't understand how competent (though I guess that's questionable) writers/researchers mix up sex and gender, especially in the biological context. Though there has been some (inconclusive) research about the link between gender identity and biological sex (the latter is the combination of hormones, chromosomes, and genitals - so the identified sex at birth doesn't always correspond to biology), gender is an innate sense of being, NOT explicitly biological. Point being, Leroi keeps writing "gender" when he should be using the word "sex" - and it made me want to scream. It also seems like he couldn't really flex his head around issues of queer identities and orientations, which is a pity in an otherwise pretty awesome book.
Voyeuristic, and sometimes with a lack of empathy for its subjects, an otherwise excellent discussion of genetic variation in humans.
I had to read this for my developmental biology class. I love the mixing of biology and history. It told the science in an easy to understand way. Some of the author's wording about sexuality and gender bugged me, though.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
would've loved to see a more nuanced discussion of gender as it relates to the intersex people the author discusses, but I suppose that was a bit too advanced of an ask for an author with no background in LGBT history. Regardless, this book is excellent and really hammers home how many of our ideas about biology are only the tip of the iceberg of genetic variability.
Absolutely fascinating. Although it wasn't intentional, I'm glad that I took an anatomy class right before reading this as it made it a bit easier to understand some of it. Even with this, there were bits that I skimmed, though that didn't make it any less fantastic.
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
3.5
a fun and informative read but since it’s a book from 2003 some of the information is a bit outdated the chapter on gender especially very much felt like a product of it’s time. Some chapters were more interesting than others and some were more dense with scientific information while some focused more on historical mutants. I think all genes and working biological structures should be named after video game characters, shout-out to sonic the hedgehog.
a fun and informative read but since it’s a book from 2003 some of the information is a bit outdated the chapter on gender especially very much felt like a product of it’s time. Some chapters were more interesting than others and some were more dense with scientific information while some focused more on historical mutants. I think all genes and working biological structures should be named after video game characters, shout-out to sonic the hedgehog.