Editorial Review

It's dangerous to blame too many of our behaviors and tendencies on raging hormones. We are, after all, creatures of free will. But after reading Theresa Crenshaw's book, you'll never again see your free will as being all that free. The book functions as both an encyclopedia of our attachment-related hormones, telling us exactly what they are and exactly what modern science thinks they do, and a guide to what we can do to get them to keep functioning the way we want them to. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Extremely revealing and a great read
Do you want to know what makes men and woman tick?, how they work on the inside?, what chemistry really is? - then look no further. This book is extremely revealing in that ive learnt that even an intimate cuddle can produce a chemical called oxytocin. And thats not all your learn. You will learn much more than a few buzz words in this book, what they are, how they are generated by the body and affected by external elements too - I highly recommend it to anyone that is even the slightest curious about all those feel good chemicals that our bodies produce during cuddling, menopause and even orgasm - its all in here. I found this an excellent book and companion resource for my NLP and psychology study.

understanding hormones influence in Love
Everyone should read this book before they think they are madly in love.It will help anyone discern whether it is the chemistry of our hormones or real love, or maybe both.In our lives it is often "hard to see the forest for the trees".This would help alot of people avoid making life mistakes.

Chemical determinism is not enough
The author of this book contributes interesting material on the important biochemicals (dopamine, estrogen, progesterone, LHRH, testosterone, prolactin, oxytocin, and others) that influence and help to regulate the universe we think of as "human sexuality." You will learn more than a few things. It seems that a working knowledge of high levels of testosterone can teach us quite a lot. (Women, proceed with caution!)Read more

Subjects:  1. Endocrine aspects    2. Family & Relationships    3. Family/Marriage    4. General    5. Hormones, Sex    6. Human Sexuality    7. Love / Sex / Marriage    8. Physiological aspects    9. Sex (Psychology)    10. Sexual excitment    11. Sexuality    12. Body, Mind & Spirit / General    13. Body, Mind & Spirit-General    14. Hormones    15. Modern fiction    16. Psychology & Psychiatry / Human Sexuality   

Reviews (10)

Like Sex Itself: Fascinating, Fun, and Educational
Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty by Joan Price lives up to its title! Like sex itself, it is fascinating, fun, and educational: a how-to book for staying sexually active and enjoying it as we, men and women, mature. With stimulating anecdotes and clinical details, it leaves no sexual arena unexplored. It encourages us to move beyond age and sexual stereotypes and better understand ourselves and our bodies. It gives a variety of suggestions on how to surmount dryness, wrinkles, flaccidity, and the like, in order to continue exploring the frontiers of pleasure and intimacy. Wise and very respectful, Joan reminds us "Great sex is what's happening between two souls, two minds, two hearts--not just two bodies." This book is a testimony to love and creativity. EVERYONE will learn from it. It is what a book should be, enriching! I wholeheartedly recommend it.

We are not alone.
Thanks to Joan Price for having the courage and willingness to share her story with others and lead the way towards increasing sexual pleasure and possibilities for all of us. She speaks for all of us "seasoned women" who were told that our sex lives were over.
Better Than I Ever Expected
Joan Price really hit the mark with this book, just what I was looking for in regards to 60+ woman. I'm in my 50's and have been dating woman from 68 to 78. This book has help me understand the needs and wants of these wonderful sexy woman. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Health    2. Health & Fitness    3. Health/Fitness    4. Hormones    5. Love / Sex / Marriage    6. Sex    7. Sexuality    8. Health & Fitness / Sexuality   

Editorial Review

Menopause is a complicated business. Medical issues vary widely and treatment options seem endless--especially in the wake of bad news about hormone replacement. While Read more

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Reviews (71)

You've got to read this book!
I received this book as a gift. There are quite a few books on this subject on the market and this one is the best. I too could not put it down and finished it in 3 days. It's a huge book, a great resource that is well researched and written.. I have a few friends who've purchased this book and really loved it too. I can highly recommend this book.
Don't dismiss this book because a Hollywood celebrity wrote it.
As it says in the forward, yes, the medical community should catch up with Suzanne Somers. Hormones are a complex subject, and the author Suzanne is wise in the way this book is written and how the content is presented. She asks the questions (what we all want to know but were afraid to ask), and gives you her opinion. But the book is in a question and answer format where the professionals are giving their answers. You may not want to do it Suzanne's way, but she's asked the right questions, and used her celebrity to bring attention to a very important topic - one that professionals and patients should be more aware of, and that major pharmaceutical companies wish you weren't.

The Sexy Years:Discover the Hormone Connection
This is a great first book to read before entering in to perimenopause is possible. Easy to understand and helps soften the blow many women feel when told those dredded words "Your going into menopause" I tried other things on the market prempro made me swell up 60 lbs in two month. I was told I no longer needed a period..(don't let a doctor tell you that)it just speeds up the ride to menopause. I am becomming very knowledgeable about bioidentical hormones and shame on Ob/Gyn who don't know about them.after all they have been around the medical world since the 40s!! Drug companiest hate them becasue you can't patent them and they must be mixed in a special pharmacy called a compounding pharmacyI find myself educating Dr.s who don't seem very interested.. It is not easy to find the right combonation of homrones but when you do it's jackpot! You will feel great. If only we could educate Dr.s especially female Dr.s (they are going to be here too one day).everywomen should read ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Consumer Health    2. General    3. Health    4. Health & Fitness    5. Health/Fitness    6. Healthy Living    7. Hormone Therapy    8. Hormones    9. Large type books    10. Men's Health    11. Sex    12. Vitality    13. Women's Health - General    14. Health & Fitness / General   

Reviews (5)

A book every woman should read
I read the book "A Woman's Guide to Natural Hormones" and was so excited to finally pull together so many health problems that I've been experiencing!High cholesterol, osteopenia, insomnia, lack of sex drive and sensation, depression and on and on.I had been going to my general pracitioner and gynecologist and neither could explain or cure my problems. They just added more and more medicines, each with its own set of side effects and multiplying my frustration and discomfort!
Best book for making an informed decision
This is an excellent book with up to date information on natural and synthetic medications.Written in layman's terms, it is well laid out and includes a wonderful question and answer section. I wish I had found it sooner.

A Woman's Guide to Natural Hormones
This is a very good book for general information about the best Hormone Replacement Therapy(versus Hormone substitute Therapy).Read more

Subjects:  1. Consumer Health    2. Diseases    3. General    4. Generative organs, Female    5. Gynecology & Obstetrics    6. Health & Fitness    7. Health/Fitness    8. Hormone therapy    9. Hormones, Sex    10. Menopause    11. Miscellanea    12. Therapeutic use    13. Women's Health - General    14. Health & Fitness / General   

Reviews (2)

TRANSGENDERED EVALUATION
I found this book to be very informative and interesting. But, it is written in medical clinical terminology too much, which is too deep for the average person. There could have been more exposure on the power of phytoestrogens and the power of positive suggestion; in order for the male to feminize his body and mind that much more. All medical doctors are partial to what they know, and also they are very pedantic. Also, there could be more positive encouragement of feminization with the general male population.

You can't judge a book by its cover
Sheila Kirk's editorial review here at Amazon wholly misrepresents her book Feminizing Hormones for the Transgendered.By failing to identify her intended audience in her product description she oversells what she has to offer.The book is at best a fair basic primer for those who might be considering beginning hormone replacement therapy, or for someone merely curious about it, but it's of little use to anyone who has already begun HRT and is looking for hard data to help understand lab results and an endocrinologist's actions.
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Subjects:  1. Gender identity    2. Sex Hormones    3. Sex change    4. Transsexualism    5. Transsexuality    6. Transsexuals    7. Transvestism    8. Transvestites   

Reviews (5)

hormonal health
finaly a book that is dealing with the hormonal diseases on every hormones (for woman, and for man as well), and tells you how to heal it in the nutrition-way,plus suplements.this book is also a book that explaining toyou how hormones realy work, why, and what is the nutrition, and nutrientsare involved in balancing them, and what is the conection among the complexhormones with the orthomolecular-nutrition therapy,-concerning naturalhormone therapy(not replacement).as a therapist i must admit that onlyafter i learned this book, my understanding on the complex hormonescooperation, and how to treat it the right way, became more accurate andmore fast resoults with my patients. this book is also for a nonproffetional as well as for the proffetional.

revolutionary!
Anyone can benefit greatly from this book Powerful knowledge is presented in great form.

Unbelievable!!!
I have been studying Human Nutrition for over 14 years and have found no other who understands the intricacies and sheer importance of proper hormonal balance through good nutition. Proper hormonal balance is thesingle most important aspect to living a healthy mental and physical life. All represented with solid scientific research, Dr. Colgan explains in aneasy to read format the simple Do's and Dont's for making your health thebest it can be. So don't lose anymore time. Take charge of your health nowand experience for yourself the unbelievable feeling from having ahormonally healthy body and mind. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Consumer Health    2. Diets - Better Health    3. Health & Fitness    4. Health Care Issues    5. Health/Fitness    6. Hormones    7. Hormones, Sex    8. Nutritional aspects    9. Sex (Biology)    10. Sexuality   

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 (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   

Reviews (1)

Thank you Dr. London
Ms. Somers book outlined several possible courses of treatment and it was nice to get a Doctor's opinion.This book helped me make decisions. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Bigger, Faster, Stronger... we can rebuild him....Big Whup.
Testosterone dreams is a thought-provoking study at times of how a drug, or at least the promise of a drug, changes our attitudes about what is normal and expected in humans. Testosterone has been offered up as a enhancement for athletic performance, sexual drive and slowing the aging process. Heavily promoted by drug companies (just watch the commercials during golf tournaments), the public begins to question acceptance of normal human limitations and imagines an improved world. Soon these enhanced expections become the norm.
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Subjects:  1. Ethics    2. General    3. Hormone therapy    4. Medical    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Menopause    7. Pharmacology    8. Physiological effect    9. Testosterone    10. Therapeutic use    11. Popular medicine    12. Popular science    13. Sex & sexuality    14. Social Science / Sociology / General   

Subjects:  1. SCI022000   

Reviews (2)

Everything you ever wanted to know about rat sex, and more!
This book is mainly about Pfaff's research into the neurobiological basis of sexual response, principally in the female rat, using the lordosis response as a model system. It is clearly written and well illustrated.The integration of hormonal and genetic influences in the context of a specific neural network is illuminating.Applications to understanding human sexuality are discussed but are limited in scope.Should be accessible to anyone with a couple of college courses in biology and physiological psychology.

A lucidly written account of a fascinating subject.
"Smell-driven behaviors, dependent on sex hormones,partake of a Dionysian form of neurobiology," writes RockefellerUniversity scientist Donald W. Pfaff."It just so happens that this ... type of neural function is necessary for reproduction." In his recently published book, "Drive - Neurobiological and Molecular Mechanisms of Sexual Motivation," Dr. Pfaff describes the interactions of hormones, hormone receptors, transcription factors, and genes, as well as the neuroanatomical circuits in which they operate, in producing the sexual differentiation and behavioral patterns necessary for procreation in mammals from rodent to homo sapiens."Drive," declares Dr.Pfaff, "is a name for neural states that energize and direct behavior." It has two components, general (arousal) and particular (e.g., hunger, thirst, warmth, sex).The central nervous system is directly hormone-responsive, and a "neuroanatomical sex steroid receptor system" is highly conserved through evolution.The neural circuit for producing primary female reproductive behavior, and its dependence on estrogen and progesterone (as originally reported from Dr.Pfaff's laboratory) represents "the first example of the induction of a specific transcription factor key for the performance of a specific behavior." Hormonal interactions can be either competitive or synergistic.Vasopression, dependent on testosterone, "facilitates offensive aggression toward an intruder." By contrast, oxytocin, interacting with estrogen, "... is the neurohormone of affiliation and love." (Estrogen, moreover, favorably affects memory and is currently being studied for possible efficacy in Alzheimer's disease.)The book is profusely illustrated with tables, photomicrographs, and neuroanatomical diagrams.It is also clearly written and deserves to attract a large number of both professional and lay readers. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Human Sexuality    2. Life Sciences - Biology - Molecular Biology    3. Neuroendocrinolgoy    4. Neuropsychology    5. Physiological Psychology    6. Psychology    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Sex (Biology)    10. Sex Hormones    11. Sexual excitement    12. Developmental biology    13. Medical / Neuroscience    14. Neurosciences   

Subjects:  1. Consumer Health    2. Estrogen    3. Health/Fitness    4. Hormone therapy    5. Hormones, Sex    6. Therapeutic use    7. Women's Health - Menopause    8. Women's health   

Reviews (1)

Interesting
This book provides a non-technical overview of the role that sex hormones play in aging.The title led me to think that the book would address the entire field of aging; however, it mostly focuses on the relation of sex hormones to aging.The first five chapters actually do summarize the general subject of the science of aging, but the information contained in these chapters is covered in more detail in other books (see Steven Austad�s 1997 book, for instance).However, starting with chapter 6, Gosden hones his focus more specifically on the sex hormones and how they affect aging.He presents the story of the discovery of the sex hormones, starting with investigations by Brown-Séquard in 1889.In the remaining chapters, Gosden interweaves the history of sex hormones with recent discoveries about how they affect aging.The book is written for general audiences, so there are no in-text citations, although Gosden provides a chapter-by-chapter list of suggested readings at the end. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging    2. Aging - General    3. Consumer Health    4. Diet / Health / Fitness    5. Endocrine aspects    6. Family & Relationships    7. Health - General    8. Health Care Issues    9. Health/Fitness    10. Life Sciences - Biology - General    11. Physiological effect    12. Sex hormones    13. Biology, Life Sciences    14. Coping with old age    15. Popular medicine   

Reviews (1)

Some very depressing evidence & ideas presented here!
First off, a very interesting & well written book, even if it was very depressing. This book completely supports my suspicions about sex hormone level & intelligence, & makes it clear that a trade-off situation exists between the two.Ever since i had begun to take notice of the huge differences in physical type between the men & boys who performed exceedingly well, myself included, & those who performed exceedingly badly in intellectual matters( i.e. school) i became conviced that the differences had at least some major correlation with their owners respective achievements. What i noticed was that the brilliant, high acheiving, towering I.Q. male students were almost always of non-virile appearance,many of them, like me, having exceptionally unmasculine facial features on small, narrow shoulders & pencil-thin necks, & commonly looking somewhat older & more mature than the low acheiving, much more virile looking students.These differences are not the result of a lack of body-building or physical interest on these student's part, but a reflection of meaningful biological differences.There exists a trade-off between high virility & intellect, meaning that most of the very brightest among us have low male hormone levels, resulting in their characteristically androgynous appearance. Now, Nyborg's book offers no proof, but has enough solid evidence to support this hypothesis, as well as my own personal observations.I am also one of these very high acheivers i mention, with the typical unmasculine phenotype i have described, no doubt the result of my very low serum androgen levels(290 ng/dl). I have always desired to look very rugged & highly virile, but now i doubt that it's biologically possible considering the trade-off hypothesis proposed here with it's sufficient support. No wonder the faces of the great philosphers look so much more gentle & feminine than the faces i see at the local bodega. Too bad that a "distinguished" face cannot be a highly masculine one. Less masculinity=more intellect?Ever notice that slum dwellers are rarely lacking in high virility? Now, notice the huge physical & mental differences you observe between a group of corner thugs & a group of Mensa members. Shocking? Overall, the thought that high-virility cannot be possessed at once with high intellect is very depressing to me, at the very least.Yes, we all want better brains, but at what price? The incompatibility of braininess & virility i've personally observed, & now read about, is hardly a completely desireable & acceptable expense. But nature is not kind in this. I can tell you one thing, & that is that i hate being an androgynous male, regardless of my having a very high I.Q.Other men, though, may not mind this situation.Read more

Subjects:  1. Human Endocrinology    2. Life Sciences - Biology - General    3. Love / Sex / Marriage    4. Neuroendocrinology    5. Physiology    6. Psychoneuroendocrinology    7. Reference    8. Science    9. Sex hormones    10. Molecular biology    11. Neurology & clinical neurophysiology    12. Neurosciences    13. Physiological & neuro-psychology    14. Science / Biology   

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. 20th century    3. History    4. Hormones, Sex    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Physiological effect    7. Physiology    8. Research    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. History of medicine    12. Science / History    13. Sex & sexuality    14. World history    15. c 1800 to c 1900    16. c 1900 - c 1914   

Subjects:  1. Endocrine Glands    2. Endocrinology    3. Genital Diseases, Female    4. Genitalia, Female    5. Gynecology    6. Ovaries    7. Sex Hormones    8. physiology   

Subjects:  1. Endocrine aspects    2. Health/Fitness    3. Hormones    4. Hormones, Sex    5. Human Sexuality    6. Medical / Nursing    7. Neuroendocrinology    8. Physiology    9. Psychobiology    10. Psychology    11. Psychoneuroendocrinology    12. Sex (Psychology)    13. Human growth & development    14. Psychology & Psychiatry / Human Sexuality    15. Sexual behaviour   

Subjects:  1. Health/Fitness    2. Human Reproduction    3. Medical / Nursing    4. Physiology    5. Reproduction    6. Sex Hormones    7. genetics    8. Human biology    9. Reproductive medicine