An eye-opening biological journey.
Delving into the mysteries of a woman’s body.
A few years ago, when she was suffering from a recurring vaginal infection, journalist Gross, former digital science editor at Smithsonian, realized she knew very little about her own body, particularly her reproductive organs. Aiming to rectify that huge gap in her knowledge, she set out to investigate. Soon, though, she discovered that women’s bodies long have been seen as an enigma to scientists, physicians, and psychiatrists. Instead of producing a “fun and jaunty” book about the vagina, the author makes a lively debut with a fresh, informative examination of women’s entire reproductive system, melding medical history—beginning in Hippocrates’ Greece—with a wide range of interviews and biological sleuthing in research laboratories all over the world. Throughout history, Gross reports, medicine has privileged men’s bodies over women’s. “It was only in 1993,” she writes, “following the women’s health movement, that a federal mandate required researchers to include women and minorities in clinical research.” Even then, research focused mostly on fertility, excluding the many other health issues that women face. Women’s biology, though, has generated much recent scientific interest, which Gross conveys with enthusiasm and clarity through her conversations with gynecologists, bacteriologists, urologists, medical anthropologists, and surgeons. The author also talked with a host of women—some, for example, who were victims of genital cutting and some who have undergone reconstruction of that excision; women suffering from endometriosis and vaginal infections; women born with atypical genitalia who were surgically altered as infants; some undergoing hormone therapy and gender affirmation surgery to transition as women. In graphic detail, Gross explains the complex structure of the clitoris; the particular microbiome of the vagina; the biology of egg cells, ovaries, and the uterus. She also devotes a chapter to transgender women and the pioneering surgeons who treat them. Veve’s illustrations—more Salvador Dalí than Georgia O’Keeffe—impart a sense of disquieting wonder to Gross’ brisk reporting.
An eye-opening biological journey.Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-324-00631-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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