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I reserved this at the library the minute I read the Guardian review.
Science has largely ignored the female of all species, from behaviour to anatomy. Grand prounouncements have been made on the basis of no evidence, which have since become received wisdon. There have always been dissenting voices (mostly female, and therefore ignored).
Fortunately, this is changing and lots of paradigm-changing work is taking place all over the world and all across the animal kingdom that sheds light on female anatomy, behaviour, mate selection, hierarchy - basically all aspects of female(1) animals' lives. It's full of "how did we not know that" moments (as are all good non-fiction books, but this really is "why did no one study this sooner?")
This is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. Everything in it is fascinating. It's incredibly readable, a real page-turner. It's funny - really funny, without being glib or disrespectful. There's feminist exasperation, but the main thrust is the author's sense of wonder at the richness of nature, and the world being so much weirder than commonly imagined.
(1) In many species even the gender binary is proving not to being even close to reality, though.
Science has largely ignored the female of all species, from behaviour to anatomy. Grand prounouncements have been made on the basis of no evidence, which have since become received wisdon. There have always been dissenting voices (mostly female, and therefore ignored).
Fortunately, this is changing and lots of paradigm-changing work is taking place all over the world and all across the animal kingdom that sheds light on female anatomy, behaviour, mate selection, hierarchy - basically all aspects of female(1) animals' lives. It's full of "how did we not know that" moments (as are all good non-fiction books, but this really is "why did no one study this sooner?")
This is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. Everything in it is fascinating. It's incredibly readable, a real page-turner. It's funny - really funny, without being glib or disrespectful. There's feminist exasperation, but the main thrust is the author's sense of wonder at the richness of nature, and the world being so much weirder than commonly imagined.
(1) In many species even the gender binary is proving not to being even close to reality, though.
