[19 Jan 2024] This book claims that many of the features of humans that distinguish us from other species evolved in order to meet the needs of the fem[19 Jan 2024] This book claims that many of the features of humans that distinguish us from other species evolved in order to meet the needs of the female body. I don't have the ability to judge the accuracy of these claims, but most of it seems to make sense to me.
Bohannon is not a scientist. She's an author. And this is her first book, though she has apparently written a lot of articles for a variety of publications. Again I'm not able to judge her qualifications but she does write well. Clearly. Understandably. With humor and occasional snark. The only time I could not fully follow her arguments was in her discussion of how we changed from a matrilineal species to a patriarchy. I found that confusing, but it was a small part of the last chapter.
Her arguments do seem to be supported by a lot of scientific evidence that she references often. Until the last chapter where she discusses love, sex, monogamy, and sexism. All interesting topics, but her discussion seems to be primarily opinion and speculation, and emotion, rather than based on concrete evidence. I have no problem agreeing with her conclusions, but again that's opinion and emotion on my part. And it's a little unfortunate that she stoops to that level when the rest of the book seems so solid scientifically.
However, it's still a very interesting book. Worthy of discussion. And I recommend it....more
This was an interesting, if biased, history of the takeover of the Republican Party by the Radical Right, from the 1970s to the present day, written bThis was an interesting, if biased, history of the takeover of the Republican Party by the Radical Right, from the 1970s to the present day, written by one of the leaders of the reproductive rights faction. The text itself is fairly short and readable. Each chapter was followed by a ton of footnotes, which it was annoying to have to page through on my kindle.
Hogue's central thesis is that the anti-abortion movement, which dominates the Radical Right, is really not about abortion at all. Abortion is just the trigger they have used to gain support. She calls it their "Trojan horse". She claims that their true objective is a return to power exclusively in the hands of white Christian men. Her documentation of their political activities seems well supported, but the analysis of their true objective is less so. Although I tend to agree with her. I've always thought that the anti-abortion movement was less about abortion and more about repressing and controlling women.
I don't think I really learned much new from this book, aside from some details of political activity, but it was an interesting read....more
[3 Aug 2020] I think this book couldn't quite decide whether it was going to be the story of the Pulitzer Prize winning reporting the authors did about[3 Aug 2020] I think this book couldn't quite decide whether it was going to be the story of the Pulitzer Prize winning reporting the authors did about Harvey Weinstein, or about the #MeToo movement. Granted it is primarily about the former, but the last few chapters were more about the movement. Also, I fully understand how interrelated they are. Both were interesting, but I think the book suffered somewhat from that indecision.
One of the things that was made clear about the profession of reporting is that it is full of fits and starts, lots of tedium and frustration, following leads, trying to convince sources to go on the record, searching for additional sources, writing, rewriting, rewriting again. Of course, reading about all that tedium and frustration was not always very exciting. If it wasn't such an important story, I might have bailed after the first few chapters, but it is an important story and I recommend it.
There were also some very surprising revelations about some well known people that I had previously respected. The questionable ethics of Lisa Bloom was not such a big surprise, but that of her mother Gloria Allred and of David Boies did disappoint me. ...more
I thought I might read this book because it sounded like an interesting story, one which resonated with an episode in my own past. But it started off I thought I might read this book because it sounded like an interesting story, one which resonated with an episode in my own past. But it started off badly. First I usually don't like first person point of view, though I will often overlook that. Second it's written in present tense. Even when she is describing something that happened twenty years ago. I find that extremely annoying. Then I didn't really like Vanessa. She seemed terrible self-absorbed. Although that's not unusual for a teen, it just turned me off. I didn't get very far into the book, but set it aside for a couple weeks and just wasn't interested enough to pick it back up again....more
There were a couple times that I almost stopped reading this book. It's about data and the lack of it, so it's filled with statistics and pages and paThere were a couple times that I almost stopped reading this book. It's about data and the lack of it, so it's filled with statistics and pages and pages of examples. This sometimes resulted in lack of fluidity in reading; it seemed bumpy to me. (I know that may not make sense, but it's how it felt.) I wanted to say "Alright, already, I get it. Now get to the good parts." But then I would press on and though there were ever more statistics and examples, the importance of this subject kept emerging and my outrage kept building. The author is very biased, with good reason. And she is very passionate.
Other than the nonstop stats, it's a pretty easy book to read. Short and direct. The stats may be tedious sometimes, but they're very important. Because the world is biased against women -- in all countries, in all walks of life, in all spheres of influence, in all occupations. And the data, or lack of it, evidences that bias. In addition, the lack of data makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fight the bias.
I recommend this to all thinking women, and to men if you can read it with an open mind. ...more
[18 Dec 2021] I just read the first few chapter and was bored. It was all whining about her hot flashes and effusing about her new affinity for animals[18 Dec 2021] I just read the first few chapter and was bored. It was all whining about her hot flashes and effusing about her new affinity for animals. There was a little -- not much -- interesting information about menopause in animals. But nothing about how menopause worked in humans. It was just not particularly interesting....more
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