May 07 Book Club Meeting
Sex, Time and Power
by Leonard Shlain
| Photos |
(2004) 370 text pages
$16, new, hardcopy - a few copies are avalable intown
The book, I'm thinking, is a study of the evolutionary relationship between males and females.
Sex, Time, and Power offers a tantalizing,answer to an age-old question: Why did big-brained Homo Sapiens suddenly emerge some 150,000 years ago? The key,according to Shlain,is female sexuality. Penguin Books.
and for the more adventurous reader, here's part of a review from Amazon /Booklist.
From Booklist
Shlain makes brilliant use of his medical expertise in his highly original and intellectually stimulating inquiry into human sexuality and its role in the shaping of civilization that he launched so boldly in The Alphabet versus the Goddess (1998). Here he takes an evolutionary approach to solving the conundrums of misogyny and patriarchy, guiding his curious, perhaps skeptical, certainly riveted readers through well-grounded and intriguing speculations about the purpose of such seemingly impractical, even dangerous traits as bipedalism, menstruation, the perils of childbirth, and the helplessness of infants. Shlain's reflections on human nutrition and women's greater need for iron lead to a fascinating theory about courtship and hunting, which, in turn, generates the hypothesis that the evolution of language was sparked by the delicacy of sexual negotiation.
Shlain makes brilliant use of his medical expertise in his highly original and intellectually stimulating inquiry into human sexuality and its role in the shaping of civilization that he launched so boldly in The Alphabet versus the Goddess (1998). Here he takes an evolutionary approach to solving the conundrums of misogyny and patriarchy, guiding his curious, perhaps skeptical, certainly riveted readers through well-grounded and intriguing speculations about the purpose of such seemingly impractical, even dangerous traits as bipedalism, menstruation, the perils of childbirth, and the helplessness of infants. Shlain's reflections on human nutrition and women's greater need for iron lead to a fascinating theory about courtship and hunting, which, in turn, generates the hypothesis that the evolution of language was sparked by the delicacy of sexual negotiation.
Item II - As a step in the right direction, the book club will be offering a Book Swap during the May 23rd meet. Have any books you'd like to get rid of? Bring 'em along and drop 'em off, and maybe discover some new treasures. Hope always springs eternal
.When: Wed., May 23, 1:30 p.m.
Where:
Art and Elaine Brody
1125 Camino
(off Cathedral Oaks, between Tuckers Grove and Highway 154)
692-8898