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While doing research as a medical student at Yale and then as a resident and faculty member at Harvard, Dr. Brizendine discovered that almost all of the clinical data on neurology, psychology, and neurobiology focused exclusively on males. In response to the need for information on the female mind, Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat women's brain function. At the same time, The National Institutes of Health began including female subjects in almost all of its studies for the first time. The result has been an explosion of new data. Here, Brizendine distills of this information in order to educate women about their unique brain-body-behavior. This book combines two decades of her own work, stories from her clinical practice, and the latest information from the scientific community at large to provide a comprehensive look at the way women's minds work.--From publisher description.… (more)
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One of those unfortunate titles that takes the attitude that modern, liberated
Moreover her citations are shoddy. More than one scientist has come out asking what the connection was between their study and her claims. e.g. inferences drawn about humans from a study on mice, and a citation of Allan Pease, the body language 'expert'? She has, for example, been called out on the figures about speech in the inside cover that she reportedly will be keeping out of future editions. I believe her views on gender differences came first and her supporting evidence came second.
Read Nature's critique of it.
I guess my final word would be PLEASE DO NOT define yourself by your gender. Be wary of kiddy oversimplifications in explaining away human behavior. Women, girls, you are not a hopeless byproduct of hormones and an enlarged communication lobe. Men, likewise.
Must be my hormones.
* It’s definitively a sexist book. Some section are clearly offensive of the male sensitivity (yes dear Louann, males have some sensitivity!). The author describes male sexuality as a “simple hydraulic device”. I guess
* She promotes a mechanistic and simplistic approach to the human brain. She doesn’t really believe in neuroplasticity, preferring to be an old school localizationist. Whatever is your problem, a few hormones and the usual antidepressant can fix it (I believe humans are not a simple chemical device, we are slightly more complex...)
* The author use of evolution and human history to sustain her theories is very poor. She describes all sort of silly theories based on the evolution of the human and female brain assuming that human life has always been the same. Sorry Louann, our ancestors didn’t go shopping, didn’t live in suburbia, neither they became grandparents at 50 (the average life was 30-35!).
* Despite the ridiculously long appendix with over 60 pages of bibliographical references, many of her statements are unsubstantiated. She offers her opinions as facts, with an excessive self-confident attitude. A more soft approach and more open mind would have made this book much more enjoyable.
Despite those limitations the book is a very rich source of information, ideas.
The Female Brain sets out to explain why women do what they do from infancy to menopause. It explains the hormonal changes behind and biological
This is one book I'd recommend to everyone. It's useful if you have kids, or ever plan on having kids, or if you are in a relationship, or ever plan on being in one. I've learned a lot about myself and people around me, thanks to The Female Brain.
It's incredibly readable. It's put into language everyone can understand with plenty of relatable real life examples to keep the text flowing.
Just keep in mind one important point the author things up - while The Female Brain makes sense and explains much, no one is controlled completely by hormones. They influence us but they don't control us.
The other challenge I faced with getting through this book was the presentation of material. It's very chatty and whenever something "more complicated" is mentioned, she throws it in numerous times within a page or two. While that's a very nice way to get a point to stick, it makes unimportant points seem more important if you knew what she meant the first time.
Warning: It is a difficult book to get through regardless of who you are (male or female) and what your personal experiences are. At some point, something you read is going to have no relevance to your life and you're going to question it's validity.
There was one thing I took umbrage at. The author writes that girls are born to nurture and told a story of a child who was given a
Needless to say, I skipped right over the chapter entitled "The Mommy Brain".
That being said, this was a quick read that didn't tax my brain at all, and I did learn a few things.