Judson, Olivia - Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI think Olivia Judson was moonlighting for a while as Dr. Tatiana on The Economist, which is where she gets the columns for this book. Despite the title, the book is actually a pop science book on evolution and natural history in the form of an advice column.
Sample letters go something like this:
"I'm a such-and-such spider in California. Even though I'm willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice to my mate, she won't take it! Why won't she eat me? Am I not tasty enough?"
The reply is generally very tongue-in-cheek and will usually laugh at inadvertent puns about eating and sex. To this, Dr. Tatiana may explain how cannibalism of one's sex partner has evolved, why it's usually the male who gets gobbled up, and how this strategy benefits both the male and the female of the species.
The breezy tone of the letters may annoy some people, but I actually enjoyed it. Judson does tend to anthropomorphize a little, but she's usually very, very good about keeping discussion of other species' sex habits to those species. She very rarely draws parallels directly to human behavior, although she often uses human behavior as a joking way to write back to the insect of the week ("Maybe he's philandering, but aren't you sleeping around a little as well?").
One of the reasons why I really liked the casual voice was because even though I think I have a fairly strong stomach for these things, I was still getting pretty grossed out by the very end. This is from the person who absolutely loved all the parasite chapters in Peeps.
Come to think of it, it could be because the letters were often written from the POV of the guys getting eaten, whereas in Peeps, you get the feeling that the author thinks the parasites are pretty darn cool.
Also, when I was reading it, I yelled out, "Score!" as Judson debunked the hoary "men are wired to sleep around and women are wired for marriage" theory.
Interesting topics covered include cannibalism, aphrodisiacs, spiky penises, incest, hermaphrodites, sexes (why just two?), male attire, and etc. Also, while the book's title says it's for all creation, many of the examples focus on the bug world. I figure this may be because we know more about them because of short lifespans and therefore more ease in tracking evolution, but I honestly have no idea. Not that I have anything against bugs! They had the coolest and weirdest examples anyway. I kept thinking back to Tiptree's Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death".
Despite the occasional "EW! That is gross!" reaction, this is still a fun and fast read. Um. Provided that you like weird nature details like me.
Sample letters go something like this:
"I'm a such-and-such spider in California. Even though I'm willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice to my mate, she won't take it! Why won't she eat me? Am I not tasty enough?"
The reply is generally very tongue-in-cheek and will usually laugh at inadvertent puns about eating and sex. To this, Dr. Tatiana may explain how cannibalism of one's sex partner has evolved, why it's usually the male who gets gobbled up, and how this strategy benefits both the male and the female of the species.
The breezy tone of the letters may annoy some people, but I actually enjoyed it. Judson does tend to anthropomorphize a little, but she's usually very, very good about keeping discussion of other species' sex habits to those species. She very rarely draws parallels directly to human behavior, although she often uses human behavior as a joking way to write back to the insect of the week ("Maybe he's philandering, but aren't you sleeping around a little as well?").
One of the reasons why I really liked the casual voice was because even though I think I have a fairly strong stomach for these things, I was still getting pretty grossed out by the very end. This is from the person who absolutely loved all the parasite chapters in Peeps.
Come to think of it, it could be because the letters were often written from the POV of the guys getting eaten, whereas in Peeps, you get the feeling that the author thinks the parasites are pretty darn cool.
Also, when I was reading it, I yelled out, "Score!" as Judson debunked the hoary "men are wired to sleep around and women are wired for marriage" theory.
Interesting topics covered include cannibalism, aphrodisiacs, spiky penises, incest, hermaphrodites, sexes (why just two?), male attire, and etc. Also, while the book's title says it's for all creation, many of the examples focus on the bug world. I figure this may be because we know more about them because of short lifespans and therefore more ease in tracking evolution, but I honestly have no idea. Not that I have anything against bugs! They had the coolest and weirdest examples anyway. I kept thinking back to Tiptree's Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death".
Despite the occasional "EW! That is gross!" reaction, this is still a fun and fast read. Um. Provided that you like weird nature details like me.
Tags:
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 11:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 11:36 pm (UTC)Well, I am a bug-lover only if there are no pictures, since I am terrified of the things in real life.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 11:49 pm (UTC)I found it on the shelf here in the library, so I will be looking at it myself.
I will have to find out if it is still in print...
(no subject)
Tue, Oct. 17th, 2006 08:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Oct. 17th, 2006 05:27 pm (UTC)