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Original Essays | April 29, 2013
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More copies of this ISBNWoman: An Intimate Geographyby Natalie Angier
Synopses & ReviewsFrom Powells.com:Natalie Angier lifts the veil of secrecy from that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces, the female body, exploring the essence of what it means to be a woman. Though Angier grounds her book in a solid foundation of scientific fact, she nonetheless seems to be having fun with her subject. In a tone at once learned and irreverent, she takes on everything from organs (breasts "are funny things, really, and we should learn to laugh at them") to orgasms ("happily for women, the clitoris has 8,000 nerve fibers, twice the number in the penis") and pretty much everything in between, creating a joyful, fresh vision of womanhood. Aside from being a complete guided tour of the female body, though, Woman: An Intimate Geography is also a superb introduction to contemporary biological science and will no doubt find a very wide audience, both male and female. If the length of time a title remains on national bestseller lists is any indication of the breadth of a book's appeal, Woman already has.
Publisher Comments:A Pulitzer Prize-winner offers a book about femaleness – in body and mind – that could prove as important as The Second Sex or Our Bodies, Our Selves and as fresh as Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom.
With the clarity, insight, and sheer joy of language that has secured her reputation as one of the New York Times' premier stylists, Natalie Angier lifts the veil of secrecy from that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces, the female body, exploring the essence of what it means to be a woman. Angier's thoughts on everything from organs to orgasm evince her famously playful originality, yet stand their ground in scientific fact. She also dives into hot topics such as menopause and evolutionary psychologists' faddish views of "female nature," creating a sparkling, fresh vision of womanhood. In her foreword, Angier writes, "This book is a celebration of the female body – its anatomy, its chemistry, its evolution, and its laughter. It is a personal book, my attempt at how to think about the biology of being female without falling into the sludge of biological determinism. It is a book about things that we traditionally associate with the image of woman – the womb, the egg, the breast, the blood, the almighty clitoris – and things that we don't – movement, strength, aggression, and fury. It is a book about rapture, a rapture grounded firmly in the flesh, the beauties of the body.... The female body has been abominably regarded over the centuries. It has been made too much of or utterly ignored. Many of the current stories of the innately feminine are so impoverished, incomplete, and inaccurate, so remarkably free of real proof, that they simply do not ring true, not for me and not, I suspect, for many other women....I believe that we can learn from other species, and from our pasts, and from our parts, which is why I wrote this book as a kind of scientific fantasia of womanhood." Review:"Passion and intelligence meet in a gorgeous book about what it means to be a woman today, yesterday, and forever... Women should rejoice – and so should men." Kirkus (starred review)
Book News Annotation:Angier, a Pulitzer-prize winning writer for the brings sharp wit, linguistic prowess, and copious research to bear on her topic, which is, well...it's not entirely clear. In her words: "My book sets out to tackle the question `What makes a woman?' But I can only sidle up to the subject of femaleness clumsily, idosyncratically, with my biases, impressions, and desires flapping out like the tongue of an untucked blouse. I hope simply to show how the body is part of the answer...." Chapters are labeled with amusing titles such as "The Well-Tempered Clavier—On the Evolution of the Clitoris," "A Gray and Yellow Basket—The Bounteous Ovary," "Venus in Furs—Estrogen and Desire," "Greasing the Wheels—A Brief History of Hormones," and "A Skeptic in Paradise—A Call for Revolutionary Psychology."
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Synopsis:A Pulitzer Prize-winner offers a book about femaleness --- in body and mind --- that could prove as important as The Second Sex or Our Bodies, Our Selves and as fresh as Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom. With the clarity, insight, and sheer joy of language that has secured her reputation as one of the New York Times's premier stylists, Natalie Angier lifts the veil of secrecy from that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces, the female body, exploring the essence of what it means to be a woman. Angier's thoughts on everything from organs to orgasm evince her famously playful originality, yet stand their ground in scientific fact. She also dives into hot topics such as menopause and evolutionary psychologists' faddish views of "female nature," creating a sparkling, fresh vision of womanhood. Description:Includes bibliographical references (p. 369-382) and index.
About the AuthorNATALIE ANGIER writes about biology for the New York Times, where she has won a Pulitzer Prize, the American Association for the Advancement of Science journalism award, and other honors. She is the author of The Beauty of the Beastly, Natural Obsessions, and Woman, named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, People, National Public Radio, Village Voice, and Publishers Weekly, among others. A New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist, Woman is “a text so necessary and abundant and true that all efforts of its kind, for decades before and after it, will be measured by it” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Angier lives with her husband and daughter outside of Washington, D.C. Table of Contents
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