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Loading... Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the…by Olivia Judson
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  detailmuse | Nov 20, 2009 |  This book was delightful--not a word I put to books very often but there you go. Lots of interesting little vignettes, generally quite well connected to the larger evolutionary picture, humorous but not condescending or stupid. It did get a little too cute for me at times, and I did find myself wishing for a deeper discussion in parts, but I was a biologist in another life. Anyway, had it focused on deep and detailed discussions, it wouldn't have been the remarkably fun read that it was, and while there are lots of very good writers in this genre, there aren't tons of remarkably fun reads. I'll be watching for her next book. (  ) katieinseattle | Oct 31, 2009 | A great look at the evolutionary biology of sex, presented as a collection of newspaper advice columns where “Dr. Tatiana” answers questions sent in by everything from slime-molds to vertebrates. Judson keeps the pace lively and the writing humorous, mixing the exposition of the gobsmackingly weird mating behaviors found throughout the animal world with our current understanding of the evolutionary principles that give rise to them. If you’re designing aliens for your science fiction setting, this book is full of inspirational material (in the vein of the Alien Sex panels given at local science fiction conventions by SF author and physical anthropologist Patricia MacEwen). This book could also be a good way to liven up the study of biology for a high school student with a dry textbook; if you have more academic pursuits in mind, there’s an excellent set of references in the back. (  ) slothman | Oct 16, 2009 | This was just plain fun. I won't remember many of the details, but just getting an overview of the wide and wonderful variety of ways that different species manage their reproductive life was an eyeopener. ( ) MarthaJeanne | Jan 8, 2009 | OK, if you only have time for one book in your busy schedule on evolutionary biology, choose this one. You are not likely to regret it. Who could have imagined there are so many ways to have sex? Goodness! Part sex manual, part just pure fun, this book is a gem that will make you extremely popular around the water cooler at work for the time it takes you to read it. This book has definitely made my list as one of the best this year. Well done, Dr. Tatiana. I can't wait for the sequel. ( ) co_coyote | Sep 17, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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You'll learn why one stick-insect copulation lasts for 10 weeks (to prevent other males from gaining access to the fertile female) and why the black-winged damselfly's penis has bristles (to scrape out his rival's sperm). You'll learn that male and female orangutans masturbate with sex toys fashioned from leaves and twigs, that slugs are hermaphrodites with penises on their heads, and that females in more than 80 species eat their lovers before, during, or after sex. You'll also ponder human sexuality when you learn that "monogamy is one of the most deviant behaviors in biology" (although jackdaws, chinstrap penguins, California mice, and some termites swear by it) and "natural selection, it seems, often smiles on strumpets."
Highly recommended--you'll read this through just for the fun of it and have plenty of odd facts with which to dazzle your dinner companions. --Joan Price
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:57 -0400)
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Wikipedia in English (8)
Mother Nature’s been having some fun.
Take nothing for granted! Remember,
You won’t find any rules -- not a one!
And not just regarding gender (where, by the way, there are more than two) -- Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation shows that species are coloring outside the lines in every aspect of sex, including seduction; mating; fertilization; monogamy and promiscuity; nesting and child-rearing ... proving that anything that leads to propagation of the species (and explaining why it does) is fair game for an evolutionary adaptation.
In an advice-column Q&A, fretful letters submitted by anthropomorphized insects, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals are answered by Dr. Tatiana (aka evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson), in a voice that’s an amusing blend of Dr. Ruth with Miss Manners. An assertion that damselflies have evolved “some of the fanciest penises around” caught my attention early on, and nature’s inventiveness just got more interesting from there. The content is surprisingly substantive, and the light style keeps it terrifically accessible. (