It's not as if we all start out with the same brain structure. They are different by nature. Think about this. What if the communication center is bigger in one brain than the other? What if the emotional memory center is bigger in one brain than the other? What if one brain develops a greater ability to read cues in people than another? In this case, you would have a person whose reality dictated that communication, connection, emotional sensitivity, and responsiveness were the primary values. This person would prize these qualities above all others and be baffled by another person with a brain that didn’t grasp the importance of these qualities. In essence, you would have someone with a female brain.
—from Chapter 1, "What Makes Us Women"

Every brain begins as a female brain. It only becomes male eight weeks after conception, when excess testosterone shrinks the communications center, reduces the hearing cortex, and makes the part of the brain that processes sex twice as large.

Louann Brizendine, M.D. is a pioneering neuropsychiatrist who brings together the latest findings to show how the unique structure of the female brain determines how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and who they'll love. Brizendine reveals the neurological explanations behind why

• A woman uses about 20,000 words per day while a man uses about 7,000
• A woman remembers fights that a man insists never happened
• A teen girl is so obsessed with her looks and talking on the phone
• Thoughts about sex enter a woman's brain once every couple of days but enter a man's brain about once every minute
• A woman knows what people are feeling, while a man can't spot an emotion unless somebody cries or threatens bodily harm
• A woman over 50 is more likely to initiate divorce than a man

Women will come away from this book knowing that they have a lean, mean communicating machine. Men will develop a serious case of brain envy.

"This comprehensive new look at the hormonal roller coaster that rules women's lives down to the cellular level, 'a user's guide to new research about the female brain and the neurobehavioral systems that make us women,' offers a trove of information, as well as some stunning insights. Though referenced like a work of research, Brizedine's writing style is fully accessible. Brizendine provides a fascinating look at the life cycle of the female brain from birth ('baby girls will connect emotionally in ways that baby boys don't') to birthing ('Motherhood changes you because it literally alters a woman's brain-structurally, functionally, and in many ways, irreversibly') to menopause (when 'the female brain is nowhere near ready to retire') and beyond. At the same time, Brizedine is not above reviewing the basics: 'We may think we're a lot more sophisticated than Fred or Wilma Flintstone, but our basic mental outlook and equipment are the same.' While this book will be of interest to anyone who wonders why men and women are so different, it will be particularly useful for women and parents of girls." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Brizendine brazenly promotes politically incorrect concepts." St. Petersburg Times

"Finally, a satisfying answer to Freud's question, 'What does a woman want?' Louann Brizendine has done a great favor for every man who wants to understand the puzzling women in his life. A breezy and enlightening guide to women — and a must-read for men." Daniel Goleman, author of Social Intelligence

"Sassy, witty, reassuring, and great fun. All women — and the men who love them — should read this book." Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of The Wisdom of Menopause

"An eye-opening account of the biological foundations of human behavior. Destined to become a classic in the field of gender studies." Marilyn Yalom, author of A History of the Breast

Why are women more verbal than men? Why do women remember details of fights that men can't remember at all? Why do women tend to form deeper bonds with their female friends than men do with their male counterparts? These and other questions have stumped both sexes throughout the ages.

Now, pioneering neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, M.D., brings together the latest findings to show how the unique structure of the female brain determines how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and who they love. While doing research as a medical student at Yale and then as a resident and faculty member at Harvard, Louann Brizendine discovered that almost all of the clinical data in existence on neurology, psychology, and neurobiology focused exclusively on males. In response to the overwhelming need for information on the female mind, Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat women's brain function.

In The Female Brain, Dr. Brizendine distills all her findings and the latest information from the scientific community in a highly accessible book that educates women about their unique brain/body/behavior.

The result: women will come away from this book knowing that they have a lean, mean, communicating machine. Men will develop a serious case of brain envy.

Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat womens brain functions. This revolutionary book combines two decades of her work and the latest information from the scientific community to provide a truly comprehensive look at the way womens minds work.

Louann Brizendine, M.D., a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, is the founder of the Women's and Teen Girls' Mood and Hormone Clinic. She was previously on faculty at the Harvard Medical School and is a graduate of the Yale University School of Medicine and the University of California, Berkeley, in neurobiology. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and son.