Editorial Review

Robin Cook, master of bestselling medical thrillers, answers the "What'sthe worst thing that could happen?" question in this plot-twisting novel inwhich villains with no sense of ethics or social responsibility get their greedyhands on the newest cloning technology. It starts when a couple of Harvardgraduate students answer the Wingate Clinic's ad for egg donors. The womenfigure on financing a year in Venice and the down payment on a Boston condo withthe extraordinary sum they're promised. But a year later, the heroines feel theemotional need to seek out the children they've made possible for infertilecouples. So they disguise themselves and seek jobs at the clinic in order toaccess the identifying information. The clinic, as it turns out, has plenty ofsecrets to protect, so it's hard to believe that a pair of computer neophytescould bypass its security. But they do, and the author is an adept enough writerto finesse this detail.Read more

Reviews (155)

Worst book I've read...
I listened to this book on tape and was so disappointed I may not pick up another Robin Cook book for some time. It was a lightweight book whose ending, or lack thereof, was the biggest "shock". I can only imagine that it had to do with the stupid ending and how one felt at the finish. I wouldn't recommend this book if it was the last book on the shelf! Why would anyone write a book and then let the storyline just stop? I actually thought I was missing the final tape. I had to give it one star but it doesn't even rate that.

My word! Cook's unnatural dialogue never bothers me...
In both Marker and Shock, the female protagonists say, "My word," often enough to start a drinking game. You could also have a drinking game everytime one character uses full names and titles to speak about a person to another character that they both know - but since the reader doesn't, our girls have to become Cook's version of the Greek Chorus. They also function as the Interlocutor, especially when the girls use their own "Cookspeak", a language used to educate the reader and each other, repeatedly and most times redundantly, which is uh...stilted, formal English.
Beware classified ads for "egg donors"
If you read the classifieds of the trendy little weeklies you've probably seen the ads for bright, healthy young women to "donate eggs" to help a childless couple. SHOCK starts out with this scenario and takes you on a whirlwind of "The Egg and I" that would make Betty MacDonald faint.Nefarious doings at a fertility clinic, cloning, gestating human fetuses in third world servant women and a great deal worse!I loved the two Harvard heroines who tackle the mad doctors at the clinic... fast pace doesn't let up.If you've got ovaries or love someone who does, this is a book that will keep you turning the pages.
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Subjects:  1. Medical    2. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    3. Suspense    4. Cook, Robin - Prose & Criticism    5. Fiction / General    6. Modern fiction    7. Fertility clinics    8. Cloning    9. Women graduate students    10. Fiction    11. Massachusetts   

Subjects:  1. Generative organs, Female    2. Gynecologic Surgery    3. Gynecology & Obstetrics    4. Health/Fitness    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Medical transcription    7. Medical writing    8. Obstetrics    9. Surgery    10. Gynaecology & obstetrics    11. Medical / Gynecology & Obstetrics    12. Reproductive medicine   

Subjects:  1. Consumer Health    2. Health & Fitness    3. Health/Fitness    4. Human Fertility    5. Human reproductive technology    6. Infertility    7. Popular works    8. Pregnancy & Childbirth    9. Women's Health - General    10. Health & Fitness / Pregnancy & Childbirth   

Subjects:  1. Diagnosis    2. Eugenics    3. Genetic disorders    4. Health Care Delivery    5. Human chromosome abnormalities    6. Life Sciences - Genetics & Genomics    7. Reproductive Medicine & Technology    8. Social Science    9. Social aspects    10. Sociology    11. Sociology - General    12. Ethical issues & debates    13. Eugenics & breeding    14. Multicultural studies    15. Social Science / Sociology / General   

Subjects:  1. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    2. Fertilization in vitro    3. Fertilization in vitro, Human    4. Government policy    5. Human Fertility    6. Human biology    7. Infertility    8. Medical Ethics    9. Moral and ethical aspects   

Editorial Review

It's time to make a baby. You and your partner ditch the birth control,chart your cycle, pinpoint Ovulation Day, and then proceed to make wonderfullove, reveling in the joy and excitement of creating new life. Later, you makelists of names, even daydream about your child going to your alma mater. Thenreality hits. You don't get pregnant.Read more

Reviews (10)

Everything helps, and it all matters!
To think that getting medical intervention is the only way, when there are things we can do to improve chances is limited thinking.
So-So
Some tips for increasing fertility - avoiding tobacco, alcohol, caffeine and stress...hmmm. Well, I'm still waiting for someone i.e., a medical professional, to write a book about why some women who DO smoke cigarettes regularly, drink coffee and consume alcohol on a fairly frequent basis have no problem whatsoever conceiving. I'm more interested in having that mystery solved. Fertility aside, I already know that tobacco, alcohol, caffeine and stress are not good for you.

I owe my pregnancy to this book!
I never write book reviews, but I owe the birth of my daughter to the advice given by this book! After 6 years of no contraception, my husband and I finally decided that we were going to REALLY TRY to have a child, so I bought this book, as a starting point to figure out what we--both over 35-- needed to do to get pregnant. In our case, the changes in lifestyle recommended in the book were all we needed; I got pregnant 3 months after putting its advice into practice. This is the perfect book to start with if you want to create a lifestyle that gives you the best chance for getting pregnant, without starting with the infertility drugs. Note that the medical options are also discussed in the book, as well as how much time is reasonable for trying to get pregnant "naturally." Good Luck! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    2. Gynecology & Obstetrics    3. Holism    4. Infertility    5. Medical    6. Reproductive Medicine & Technology    7. Women's Health - General    8. Gynaecology & obstetrics    9. Health & Fitness / Women's Health    10. Reproductive medicine   

Subjects:  1. Medical    2. Medical / Nursing    3. Physician & Patient    4. Reference    5. Infertility & fertilization    6. Medical / Reproductive Medicine & Technology   

Subjects:  1. Medical    2. Medical / Nursing    3. Radiology    4. Reproductive Medicine & Technology    5. Ultrasonography   

Subjects:  1. Communicable Diseases    2. Family & General Practice    3. Generative organs, Female    4. Genital Diseases, Female    5. Gynecology    6. Gynecology & Obstetrics    7. Infections    8. Infectious Diseases    9. Medical    10. Medical / Nursing    11. Microbiology    12. Gynaecology & obstetrics    13. Infectious & contagious diseases    14. Medical / Gynecology & Obstetrics    15. Reference works   

Subjects:  1. Drugs    2. Drugs - Adverse Effects    3. Drugs and sex    4. Effect of drugs on    5. Generative organs    6. Pharmacology    7. Psychology    8. Psychotherapy - General    9. Sexual Disorders    10. Side effects    11. Reproductive medicine    12. Sexual behaviour   

Subjects:  1. African Americans    2. Discrimination & Racism    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History - U.S.    6. History: American    7. Human Sexuality    8. Political History    9. Sex customs    10. Sexual behavior    11. Social conditions    12. United States - 20th Century (1900-1945)    13. United States - State & Local - South    14. Virginia    15. Family & relationships    16. History / United States / State & Local / South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)    17. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    18. Political control & freedoms    19. Population & demography    20. Second World War, 1939-1945    21. sexual regulation; Virginia; eugenic sterilization; interracial marriage laws; movie censorship; birth control promotion; venereal disease control; prostitution regulation; disfranchisement; public health; sexual danger; Norfolk, Virginia; Richmond, Virginia; Hampton Roads, Virginia; Albemarle County, Virginia; Walter Plecker; Racial Integrity Act; miscegenation; Buck vs. Bell; Medical Society of Virginia; Roy Flannagan; Ennion Williams; syphilis; Julius Rosenwald Fund; David W. Byrd; National Medical Association; Irl Cephas Riggin; Barber Bill; premarital testing; Mary B. Baughman; Virginia Birth Control League; Virginia League for Planned Parenthood; social hygiene; Robert Moses; May Act; Loving v. Virginia   

Subjects:  1. Gender identity disorders    2. Human Sexuality    3. Medical    4. Psychology    5. Psychopathology - General    6. Reproductive Medicine & Technology    7. Gender studies   

Subjects:  1. Atlases    2. Clinical Chemistry    3. Medical    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Reproductive Medicine & Technology    6. Infertility & fertilization    7. Medical / Reproductive Medicine & Technology   

Reviews (1)

What a mess!
There are so many things one could write about this material that it is truly difficult to know where to begin...Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative treatment    2. Diseases    3. Gynecologic Cancer    4. Gynecologic Surgery    5. Gynecology & Obstetrics    6. Medical    7. Medical / Nursing    8. Oncology    9. Reproductive Medicine & Technology    10. Surgery    11. Surgery - General    12. Uterine fibroids    13. Women    14. General surgery    15. Gynaecology & obstetrics    16. Medical / Gynecology & Obstetrics    17. Radiology   

Reviews (1)

It's not me, it's my HORMONES!!!
I found this book to be a HUGE eye opener to the amazing way our bodies function in a primal order for a purpose which we have little control over. To actually learn about the chemical responses that make women want to nest after sex and men want to flee was fasinating. IT'S NOT PERSONAL, IT'S PRIMAL! It was humorus to discover that all the pyschology in the world isn't going to change basic biology. THIS is what sex education classes should be about. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Endocrine aspects    2. Hormones, Sex    3. Human Reproduction    4. Physiological aspects    5. Psychology    6. Sex (Psychology)    7. Sexual excitment    8. Family & Relationships / General   

Reviews (1)

Biology as cultural history
This book is about the social construction of gender and body in biology. Oudshoorn shows how a Victorian id� fixe about finding the "natural" source of gender differences in order to maintain them led to the "discovery" of hormones such as estrogen and adrenaline and to their classification as "sex" hormones. She goes on to show how the availability of materials for hormone extraction and testing, the entrance of various professions and institutions into those activities, and the availability of (mostly female) bodies for clinical experimentation steered the development of those hormones into clinical products such as The Pill. Since Oudshoorn's analysis is about every body, I as a reader can experience it as being about my own body. For instance: I suffer from an autoimmune disease which affects many parts of the body -- intestines, skin, skeleton, eyes. Symptoms vary with stress levels and with the menstrual cycle. According to the hormonal concept of the body, this implies that the course of my disease is steered by "sex" hormones, the hormones that regulate fertility and secondary sex traits. But my experience also implies that these so-called "sex" hormones also are stress hormones, immune system hormones, digestive tract hormones, etc. Thus it is fascinating for me to read Oudshoorn's account of how the sexualized concept of these hormones and the hormonalized concept of the gendered body emerged and came to preclude other conceptualizations. Having read that account, I have a new understanding of why medicine is institutionalized such that my disease and therefore my body as a patient fall within the purview of gastro-enterology, while the hormones which seem to steer the disease fall within the purview of gynecology. I had wondered why neither my gastro-sugeon nor my gynecologist have been able to tell me what effects hormone therapies might have on the course of the disease, and although that is not a question Oudshoorn sets out to answer in Beyond the Natural Body, answer it she does. I have also read the book from the perspective of a fellow researcher and teacher in the social study of science and technology. Oudshoorn's book is fast becoming an important resource in this field. Here are four good reasons to buy it: 1) The gendered hormonal concept of the body is currently part of the hegemonic set of views in biology and medicine. This entails that many (all?) of us, like myself, are personally confronted by practices and institutions which derive from and serve to maintain the concept. The knowledge, practices, and institutions of the hormonal body are full of frustrating gaps and perplexing inconsistencies. As a material, historical, socio-political map of the hormonal body concept, Oudshoorn's book can perhaps help us deal with these gaps and inconsistencies, perhaps help us steer the further development of the hormonal body concept according to our interests as lived bodies. 2) In extension of the book's empirical arguments, there are a number of important theoretical arguments -- e.g. the role of materiality in socio-technical networks, or the mechanisms for stability and instability of prescientific concepts as they are drawn into science. These and other theoretical issues are important to those who would study the practice and culture of science, not least because they bridge disciplinary boundaries in the field. 3) The book is extremely well written. While the historical documentation is thorough and the analysis subtle and complex, the book is still a strikingly smooth and easy read. This is one of the few books of solid academic history I have found to be as engaging as a popular ethnography, or even a good mystery novel. I expect that it will prove to be a good teaching text at both undergraduate and graduate levels. 4) Another aspect of the style of Oudshoorn's writing is the emotional distance she maintains to the many potentially politically incendiary issues in the history of (so-called) sex hormones. One might think that such a style would render the text politically impotent. Not so. I cannot say how others will react, but I for one found the text all the more politically motivating on three counts. One is that the rage I felt over some of these issues I felt as my own, not as an emotion imposed on me by the author. The second is that I felt that rage being directed away from the windmills of my own hasty assumptions and towards the forces which Oudshoorn convincingly documented were at work. The third is that those first two made the book an exciting model for politically effective academic writing based on constructivist theories, a project which some have deemed futile but which Oudshoorn shows to be eminently worth the effort. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Feminism & Feminist Theory    3. History    4. Hormones, Sex    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Physiology    7. Research    8. Sex hormones    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. History of ideas, intellectual history    12. Human reproduction, growth & development    13. Medical anthropology    14. Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory    15. Sociology, Social Studies   

Reviews (2)

Biology of Aging: Observations & Principles
It was exactly the edition I needed for my Biology of Aging course.It was delievered on time by Amazon

WOW!
I got this book because I used to do work on the author's lab and I was amazed by the work they were pursuing there.Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging    2. Aging (Biology)    3. Gerontology    4. Life Sciences - Biology - General    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Pathophysiology    7. Physiology    8. Physiology, Comparative    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Developmental biology    12. Human reproduction, growth & development   

Reviews (1)

A Guide to a New View of the Free Self
Dr. Winnubst's latest work should prove to be an excellent, eye opening experience for anyone interested in what we mean when we call ourselves "free," or even what we mean when we say "I." Using several eariler philosopher's works about experience and identity, Dr. Winnubst deconstructs the myth of the automonous individual, independent of such fundamental considerations such as race, gender, economic status, and sexual orientation. Further, she argues that the myth of the autonomous self has been established for the sake of those who benefit from social injustice, what Dr. Winnubst calls "phallisized whiteness." She continues by offering how we can proceed while accepting our aspects of race, gender, wealth, and the like as inseparable parts of ourselves.
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Subjects:  1. Boundaries    2. Differentiation (Sociology)    3. Gay Studies    4. Gender Studies    5. General    6. Liberty    7. Philosophy    8. Social aspects    9. Sociology    10. Gay & Lesbian studies   

Subjects:  1. Cerebral dominance    2. Family/Marriage    3. Love / Sex / Marriage    4. Sex (Psychology)    5. Sex Therapy    6. Sex education    7. Sex instruction    8. Sexual behavior    9. Sexuality    10. Psychotherapy    11. Reproductive medicine   

Reviews (4)

Eye-opening for all women!
I found this book very eye-opening on many topics, from the monthly hormonal cycle to the effects of the pill to menarche rituals and menopause.Lots of the information here will be new to even well-educated women, and can help them improve their lives and sex lives.After reading and rereading this book, I bought copies for my 3 sisters and my mother.

A book all women should read
This is truly the best book I have ever read.I not only learned so much about my own body but also that of my mom, and what she is physically and emotionally going through.I learned that other women can relate to some of my experiences and I no longer feel alone.I have learned to honor and respect my body and the monthly changes that I go through, and to appreciate those changes. I am going to teach my daughter that having her period is not something to dread, but something to celebrate.I plan to buy this book for my 18 year old niece and my mom.

A recommended contribution to personal and women's studies
In Women's Sexual Passages: Finding Pleasure And Intimacy At Every Stage Of Life, midwife and women's health care provider Elizabeth Davis draws upon her many years of experience and expertise to provide a frank and intimate overview of female sexuality and its evolution over a lifetime. She shows how women's sexuality is connected to (and affected by) childbirth, child rearing, stress, grief, and creativity. Her commentary on such issues as sex during menstruation, after childbirth, after menopause, after rape, after infidelity, and the sexuality of celibacy are both candid and informative. By tracing women's sexual cycles through the course of a lunar month and a developmental lifetime, Women's Sexual Passages is a welcome and recommended contribution to personal and women's studies that is enriched for readers with poetry, invocations of ancient goddesses, traces of ritual and herbal wisdom, along with fully up-to-date presentations on endometriosis and PMS. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Hormones, Sex    2. Love / Sex / Marriage    3. Physiological effect    4. Physiology    5. Sexual behavior    6. Sexuality    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Women    10. Women's Health - General    11. Women's Studies - General    12. Sex & sexuality    13. Women's studies