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A review by clay1st
A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister
3.0
If you are looking for an academic sexology book, you will be endlessly annoyed. If you are here for some light hearted fun and some interesting facts* then you'll probably enjoy this book.
I always enjoy etymological discussions and I always enjoy quotes about sex from letters/documents written in "olde" parlance, both of which there are a good selection here.
*I enjoyed the fact that she dispelled some commonly held myths including some I believed (e.g. invention of the vibrator as to be used for "medical" orgasms for treatment of hysteria). However there is are also plenty of questionable assumptions poor science e.g. her figures on the number of nerve endings in the penis and clitoris has no reference and the numbers seem to be taken from a very old study on cows/sheep...
Have a look at some other critical reviews for more discussion on this.
Regardless I enjoyed it and, taken with a pinch of salt, learned a thing or two.
I always enjoy etymological discussions and I always enjoy quotes about sex from letters/documents written in "olde" parlance, both of which there are a good selection here.
*I enjoyed the fact that she dispelled some commonly held myths including some I believed (e.g. invention of the vibrator as to be used for "medical" orgasms for treatment of hysteria). However there is are also plenty of questionable assumptions poor science e.g. her figures on the number of nerve endings in the penis and clitoris has no reference and the numbers seem to be taken from a very old study on cows/sheep...
Have a look at some other critical reviews for more discussion on this.
Regardless I enjoyed it and, taken with a pinch of salt, learned a thing or two.