Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?: Bodies, Behavior, and Brains–The Science Behind Sex, Love, and Attraction
- ISBN13: 9780385342155
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
How long does it take to decide if a person is hot?
Is your lover more likely to get you pregnant than your husband?
Can men tell when a woman is fertile?
If you’ve ever wondered how scientists measure love—or whether men really prefer blondes over brunettes—this smart, sexy book provides real answers to these and many other questions about our most baffling dating and mating behaviors. Based on the latest research in biology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes? dares to explain the science behind sex—and opens a fascinating window on the intriguing phenomenon of love and attraction.
Covering the areas of bodies, b… More >>
Is it possible to discuss evolutionary psychology in a completely detached, scientific way, without the accompanying cultural notions, emotion, and judgment? The answer is yes — but female authors, in my experience, have a particularly hard time doing this. They have this Oprah-esque, prissy tendency to make everything “feel good” and politically correct and sugarcoat the facts, rather than bluntly state them — no matter how unpalatable.
This female-written book, which reads more like a Cosmo article, falls into the same trap. It does cover the fundamentals of mating behaviors and flirting (although you probably already know them if you’re an evolutionary psychology buff), and has some statistics not found elsewhere (such as worldwide male/female preferences for casual sex). But there’s a tinge of judgmental eye-rolling and tsk-tsk’ing here whenever the behaviors being described go against the author’s view of what is appropriate or culturally acceptable, particularly when she talks about males, whom it turns out she really doesn’t understand all that well despite her background in evolutionary psychology.
If you can get past this prissy uneasiness on the author’s part to face the facts, it may be worth adding to your collection (I find that every book on the subject covers something that others don’t).
Rating: 2 / 5
This book was almost exactly what i expected. It arrived clean, new and completely up to date.
The book is full of interesting facts and is well written and easy to understand. Mainly based on scientific fact (which is very appealing to me) it combines established fact with quirky experimentative new progressions in science.
One down point, however, is the authors convictions about the theory of evolution. The only hint of exactly how convicted the author Jena Pincott was on the basis of evolution is on the back cover where it merely says “Jena Pincott has a background in biology” which doesn’t (now i may be alone here) suggest to me that she is an avid believer in the evolution theory. I was slightly annoyed and disappointed that she often makes reference to our ape “ancestors”. I now understand belief in evolution comes with the territory of biology.
Overall it makes a good read with little, easy to remember facts.
Rating: 4 / 5
I would have liked to have given this book a higher rating than I did. The author obviously perused some excellent studies and scientific works before putting it together. The “Sources” chapter proves that she’s consulted with some find minds. Unfortunately, she alludes to these works more than she details them in her narrative. Also, there are no footnotes which was disappointing; as was the fact that there is no Index. Lamentfully, it is written with the talk-show chick crowd in mind. One will realize this a few seconds after opening it when he discovers that its pages are written in lilac ink. This might not be its death knell but the only thing about hitching your point of view to the perspectives of The View and Oprah watchers is that they cannot handle any truth–none whatsoever, so I really doubt that Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes will appeal to them as it occasionally is quite blunt. It’s also a bit too technical for the mind of mush crowd. The end result is a publication that is neither fish nor fowl. I personally didn’t like it because it was too girly and obfuscated too many scientific truths; whereas, her desired audience won’t like it because it’s too educational and not biased enough against men. In all likelihood, this book will soon hit the remainder bin.
The bottom line is that, in America today, there is a real battle going on between Truth and Sensitivity. Sadly, truth is losing out. Political correctness is all about telling lies in the hopes of advancing one group over another and women are currently the primary recipients of this toxic largesse. It was my feeling that Pincott tried to cushion many an unpleasant truth in these pages which eventually wore me down. A prime example of this is page 266′s tagbox entitled “Keep a Flock of Wingmen.” I could barely read the passage all the way through as the author seems to know nothing about male friendships or (perhaps) friendships in general. She defines a wingman as one whose sole role is to attract potential dates to you. What? That type of thinking is both surreal and macabre. It’s true that women value men higher when they are seen in the presence of other women, but Pincott turns reality into farce by suggesting that the converse is true as well…only it isn’t. When women appear in the company of a lot of males, men think they’re on the game or far worse. Moreover, we also have no desire to steal another fellow’s woman. Indeed, a woman who’s currently sleeping with a man has far less value than one who is observed unencumbered. That’s just two examples of goofy misconception that you’ll find in these pages but I could outline many more.
Rating: 2 / 5
A very good book written in a layman’s format so it is easier to digest the scientific information, concerning why we love and why are attracted to some and not to others. I thought it was well written and not very long, so a an easy read.
Rating: 5 / 5
This was an interesting book although I do not agree with all that it had to say in fact from my own experiences and observations some of it is not true.
Rating: 3 / 5