The Male Brain

For anyone who lives with, works with, or raises a male, this book helps demystyfies the behaviors that mnay of us females can't 'get.' Simple enough but huge in its message...a great companion to The Female Brain by same author...

Written like the author believes boys are defective girls. Terrible tone and perspective of author. Her childish, "OMG!-my-son-is-so-different-I-can't understand"-dripping tone detracts from any science she's trying to convey. Clearly written for moms who naturally dislike and misunderstand men, rather than a generally-readable book for men and women. An indigestible read for a boy or man. Wikipedia will teach you more about the male brain and hormones and waste far less of your time.

The book arrived in great condition, just as described! More quickly than expected. Also a very good read. I think its a very good sequel to the Female Brain. Explains allot of things we already know about hte way people behave, but it gives the reason for the behavior. Makes allot of sense. A happy addition to my library.

With this book i finally understand some of the male human beings. It opened my eyes! Must read book for every woman , mother to a boy, anybody in close contact to the male population. Good reference is the "Female" Brain by the sMe author. Easy to read, good for everybody!

I learned of this book on NPR (Michael Feldman) and became immediately intrigued. Dr. Brizendine has done an excellent job of explaining a rather thorny (!) subject. I wish I had been more up up on this when I was younger! It would have made a few situations a little easier to understand. Now I can't wait to read "The Female Brain", obviously a much thicker book!!!

After reading the Female Brain several years ago, it seems that I have waited forever for her book on the male brain. As a university faculty member who teaches introduction to family relations to more than 200 students every semester, this book will be the one book I recommend to my students. It is filled with stories that make specific points very clear and readable. The research foundation is clearly spelled out in both the Notes and References.
Every semester I lecture on gender differences I have used excerpts from the Female Brain and now, I will use the Male Brain. Her explanations about the role of male hormones has clarity that is seldom written a book for both professionals and the general public. I highly recommend this book to all.

EXCELLENT. A must read for all men to better understand themselves and for all women so they will stop trying to change the men in their lives. It should have been written 40 years ago when the second wave feminist were trying to get us to believe men and women were biological equals. Every educator who teaches boys should read this. Finally the truth comes out: men are different from women - not better than and certainly not less than. The culture of male bashing has got to stop, its destroying marriages and children.

A really different perspective to what I have been taught - which wasn't much, nor helpful.
I feel that a lot of this kindle book, makes quite a lot of sense.
Worth at least another more thorough read.

I really enjoyed "The Female Brain," and was really looking forward to "The Male Brain." Unfortunately, the author herself admits in the introduction, that while there was tremendous need for "The Female Brain," there's actually a lot already known about the male brain. But undeterred she decides to repeat the obvious in order to monetize her newfound fame, and readers' obsession with neuroscience in general.

I was quite excited to read this book. It certainly was marketed well and I was intrigued to learn some new "ground-breaking discoveries"..
Instead it was an INCREDIBLY frustrating read. Not only because the science was questionable, but mostly because reading it as a male, I found that through each stage of male development, it seemed like she considered each part set in stone with no variation allowed.

I may be wrong, but I'm sure there are many other men out there, (me included), That did not progress 100% exactly like she described.. There is so much room for variation in male development, and yet almost no time was devoted to the many alternate paths that a boy may experience in reaching adulthood.. In my case I'd say I only experienced about 50% of what she so set in stone, and even that 50% was nuanced in ways that she had no interest in elaborating on.
It seems to me, that when writing a supposedly medical science book, one should spend almost equal time towards normal development as towards the pathologies that may immerge from having hormonal imbalances etc.

The book was waay too short and dumbed down.. What really got my goat the most is that according to most surveys at least 10% of men are gay, and yet she devoted only 2 pages towards the topic...in the appendix...how offensive it is completely disregard the gay male brain when its such a hot topic in todays society, and represents such a large chunk of the male demographic.. Not only that but she didn't even remotely touch on the heteroflexibility that has been a part of male sexuality since the dawn of time, nor bisexuality or any other kind of sexuality that doesnt strictly fall into her heteronormative stereotypes of how a man should be.

The fact that she ommited such large swathes of information pertaining to how many men experience their reality is really a disservice to the field of neuropsychology and science, and somewhat suspect. The woman is from San Francisco for crying out loud, she should know better.

After reading Brizendine's "Female Brain", I was anxious to see the other side of the coin, from the perspective of such a fine scientific writer. She did not disappoint; the advances in neuro-imagery of recent years, added with her own concise, psychological observation made for a clearer picture of the male psyche than has previously been offered to the lay public. Women, please read this book!

Information I never knew. Still don't understand men, but really, will we ever?? The male brain is so simple, we try to make more of it than we need to. Who knew 'simple' would be so hard to figure out?! Love the book!!

This book and her 'Female Brain' prequel are great books. Easy to read but scientifically based. I recently bought it for my mom and she loved them too. My boyfriend also reads them and we have fun talking about what we find out about the opposite sex! Definitely get these books

Recently purchased, "The Male Brain", and wish it was required reading in high school or college, as the author is a neuro-
psychiatrist, who describes the male brain from a genetic developmental basis, along with the development of the brain, from birth, child-hood, teen, and the rest of the life of the living male. Woman who want to know about the male, and males who want to know more about why they think and act the way they do, should read this exceptional fun and educational book.
Would recommend reading for both genders, the sooner read the better. Stuart, Chicago, Illinois, 5/16/2010.

This is an interesting introduction to brain psychology and I cannot align myself to the fault that others are assigning this book due to its central discussion of sexual impulses within the male brain. Men do indeed invest a lot of mental capital in the sexual process, so sex is an excellent focal point for a work on the male brain. The decision to associate particular life stages (son, lover, father) to fully-developed brain states is a bit of stretch, empirically, but may be well supported by certain pieces of scientific evidence. Certainly, it is reasonable that we might conclude there are significant structural changes in the male (or in any) brain as it passes through significant social limina. I was a bit put-off by the author's refraining "I've seen it all before" attitude, but this isn't a huge problem.

Psychiatrist Louann Brizendine, currently of the University of California, San Francisco and formerly of Harvard Medical School, has published the predictable followup to her bestselling book The Female Brain. This may be the most accessible book I have ever read that has slightly more than half its length taken up with appendices, notes, references, and the index. In 135 easy-to-read pages, Brizendine lays out the basic functioning of the male brain. Despite the number of books addressing these general topics, the author stands out due to her knack both for memorable formulations of information and for bringing up little-discussed aspects of the brain and tying them into everyday aspects of life to which we can relate.

Her prefatory material is fabulous in itself. We get two pages summarizing the ten principal areas of the male brain, followed by a three-page "cast of neurohormone characters" that sets the tone as it gives us the list of players as if we were in the theatre: "Testosterone--Zeus. King of the male hormones, he is dominant, aggressive, and all-powerful...." Or the less familiar "Mullerian Inhibiting Substance (MIS)--Hercules. He's strong, tough, and fearless. Also known as the Defeminizer, he ruthlessly strips away all that is feminine from the male...." One more: "Androstenedione--Romeo. The charming seducer of women. When released by the skin as a pheromone he does more for a man's sex appeal than any aftershave or cologne." Next are two pages summarizing the phases of a man's life.

Then the book proper begins! Brizendine explains that male and female brains to differ considerably. "In the female brain, the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and oxytocin predispose brain circuits toward female-typical behaviors. In the male brain, it's testosterone, vasopressin, and a hormone called MIS (Mullerian inhibiting substance) that have the earliest and most enduring effects.... We have learned that men use different brain circuits to process spatial information and solve emotional problems." The author aligns her chapters with the different principal phases of a male brain's life---the boy brain, the teen boy brain, the mating brain, the brain below the belt, the daddy brain, manhood, and the mature male brain.

In the chapters on the boy brain and the teen boy brain, the doctor provides tales drawn from her own experiences raising boys. By the time we get to the mating brain, things are really starting to heat up. She provides a detailed travelogue of an imaginary train trip along the brain circuits of "the male brain in love." One key area of the brain involved in pair bonding is the ventral tegmental area or VTA, whose cells manufacture dopamine, "the brain's feel-good neurotransmitter for motivation and reward.... Filled with dopamine, the train would speed along his brain circuits to the next station, the NAc, or nucleus accumbens, the area for anticipation of pleasure and reward." And later, "[a]s the train sped into the final station, the caudate nucleus, or CN, the area for memorizing the look and identity of whoever is giving you pleasure," we'd see al the tiniest details about the woman who started the train going in the first place.

Interestingly, to reach orgasm, "both men and women must first turn off a few parts of the brain--like the amygdale, the brain's danger and alert center--and the areas for self-consciousness and worrying--the anterior cingulated cortex, or ACC." Now there's a topic that I haven't heard feminists talk about much. Although I had heard this before, I appreciated the author's reminder that, women's complaints that men don't care enough about them to stay awake and cuddle to the contrary, "the truth is that the hormone oxytocin is to blame for a man's so-called postcoital narcolepsy."

Being a father myself, it is fascinating to read about the daddy brain and then to consider how nature has equipped males to do such different tasks--fight, conquer a woman, and then nurture children. Certain brain circuits are designed to induce men to fall in love with their children. "[C]lose physical contact releases oxytocin and pleasure hormones in dads, too, bonding parent to child." And of course, as the author reminds us, men are critical to a child's well-being. Active discipline from fathers plays a crucial role in a child's success in life, and a girl's close relationship with her father can set the stage for getting along well with men throughout her life.

In the manhood chapter, the author explains that both men and women have both a mirror-neuron system (MNS) and a temporal-parietal junction system (TPJ) but the female brain stays in the MNS longer while the male brain quickly switches over to the problem solving, action-oriented TPJ. These different brain circuits function adaptively and helpfully, for the most part, even though in modern society we may sometimes deny certain aspects of the behaviors they produce. The TPJ induces men to, for example, aggressively stare down guys they may catch checking out their wives, and women--whatever they may say--generally feel flattered by such behavior. Like it or not, "[r]esearch shows that angry men get noticed more--not only by other men but also by women." Not only that, but "couples who argue have a better chance of staying together."

Finally, the mature male brain has grown in comfort with its established rank in whatever hierarchies apply to the man's life, and it feels less called to prove itself than it did when it was younger.

What a great book! A quick, easy, and pleasant read, yet a very enlightening and instructive one. The model of integrating small amounts of core text with large quantities of prefatory and supplementary material is one other authors should consider adopting. Don't miss this fabulous work. Three cheers!

The Male Brain is a fascinating book, filled to the brim with astonishing information about how males of all ages are influenced by their brains. As befits a work of science, almost half of this 260-page book is copious notes and references.

Dr. Louann Brizendine is the author of the best-selling The Female Brain and attempts to perform the same feat here. I think she succeeds. Using stories and examples of male behavior from real life case studies, she breaks down the research and uses it to explain why males behave the way they do.

For example, dads-to-be have a decrease in testosterone and an increase in prolactin, various hormones acting in response to the natural airborne chemicals of pregnancy--pheromones--emanating from the mother-to-be's skin and sweat glands. Supposedly, these hormones are priming him for paternal behavior. Rather incredible if you think about it.

There are discussions of males, their sex drives and the role of the brain, and the what happens in the aging brain. A section on the male brain and sexual orientation is also quite interesting, uncovering for example, the fact that a part of the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is twice as larg in gay males as in straight males.

If you're interested in why men behave the way the do, and how to utilize the strengths of the unique male brain, Dr. Brizendine's book is to be recommended.

Meh.

Maybe slightly better organized than the female brain book but still poorly written. Far too many references and descriptions of scientific studies (many involving animals) that are then used to support the idea that the study result equals fact for all human males.

Any time you write a book dealing with complex subject matter such as science and the internal workings of various regions of the brain and the functions which they govern, you have to simplify things for the general public.

That's precisely what Louann Brizendine does in this book which is essentially a scientific catalog of genetic, structural, chemical, hormonal, and brain differences between men and women. It aptly documents the various stages, developments, and changes in the male brain from infancy to old age.

She does a good job of condensing information and making it "user friendly" by weaving stories which humanize and incorporate a plethora of research data obtained from a myriad of studies. The points that I found most interesting were:

-The role and importance of testosterone
-The defeminizing effect of MIS (Mullerian inhibiting substance) and it's role in defining masculinity
-Why boys have superior ability to track moving objects
-That men have two and half times the brain space devoted to sexual drive in their hypothalamus
-Why men have more aggression and tend to be territorial
-Infantile puberty & juvenile pause
-The importance of victory, competition, and social ranking for males
-Boys' interest in competition, and girls' interest in cooperation
-Size advantages for boys and the origin of the alpha male
-The anthropological need of men to solve problems
-The twentyfold increase in testosterone that starts at age 9 with boys
-The increased stimulation or "shock" that's needed to activate the pleasure center in the brain of teen boys
-Why boys talk about games and objects, while girls talk about people and relationships
-How groups make boys more willing to undertake risks
-The link between food and sexual access for men
-The link between the vasopressin receptor gene and monogamous men
-The role the amygdala plays in preventing sexual inhibition
-The couvade syndrome "sympathetic pregnancy" in men
-The 33% drop in testosterone levels observed in men during their wives pregnancies
-Synchrony a.k.a parent-child bonding
-Why men tend to bluff, posture, and fight
-The feel good effects of oxytocin and emotional side effects of viagra
-Andropause and the impact of losing testosterone on the aging male

Though it seems very comprehensive, it's a quick read, and it's certain to help men understand themselves, their sons, their fathers, and other men in their lives, in addition to helping women understand the intricacies of the male brain at every stage - which is what the author intended.

After all the debate about those from Mars and those from Venus, and all the nagging from each spouse to the other about all different perceptions and behaviors, it is nice to figure out why there is a difference in the first place! I found the scientific explanations very easy to understand. I also liked the fact that the author doesn't criticize any gender for its differences, especially being a female, she doesn't camp in a feminist role, only plain scientific approach. It is very helpful for those raising teen boys, who wonder if there is something wrong with their boy compared to others. Also those in the dating world will find many explanations helpful to understand what is going on, and get some sense of control on what is going to be their future if the relationship works well. I think it also is a good tool to analyze past relationships, when all you may do is blame yourself or the other, when you had no clue what was going on. Some may find it a good idea to explain some of the ideas to their teen boy so that they can make a sense of why they behave a certain way. The book doesn't pretend to teach parenting. But it really takes a lot of the ignorant drama out of the equation. Fun and easy to read.

Loving this book so much! I read The Female Brain by the same author and I was simply flabbergasted at some of the differences between the brain connections that we make based on gender.
This book is for everyone who seeks to understand your opposite gender partner or your child (I am so glad I don't remember this teenage stage of my life / I remember the anger and angst but not to the level described in The Female Brain).

The male brain...everyone thinks it's so simple, but Brizendine's book proves that wrong with case studies and scientific data. What I liked the most about this book is that even though you may not be familiar with all the scientific jargon, there are plenty of examples to break it all down for the lay-person.

Brizendine's book starts with brain development in the womb, and ends with the elderly or mature brain. As a thirty-four year old male, I found all of the examples and explanations extremely relatable.

When boys are young, prior to two years of age, their brain is pumping high levels of testosterone and hormones through their body. Between the ages of 2-12, this calms down quite a bit and young boys tend to become mama's boys. Around this age group is when chemicals in the brain also dictate behavior in boys that are different than girls. I noticed these same traits in my little boy. Little girls will just sit there and be quiet and make eye contact for a long time. Little boys on the other hand have brain functions that make them fidget constantly and what to sit still for no longer than a few minutes. In addition, as soon as they see some interesting movement, they go after it.

As the teen years kick in, the testosterone and hormones are pumped through the body ten-fold by the brain. This is when anything and everything is about sexual attraction and activity. This dies down as the male ages, but a lot slower than the first time around. Chemicals and reactions in the brain cause the male to be, for lack of a better term, constantly horny. It also causes them to want to mate with anything and every female that moves. This can be controlled by most males, but the urges are still there.

I found one of Brizendine's male vs. female brain examples quite helpful when it comes to relationships. When a woman expresses to her husband or boyfriend a problem that she is having, be it at work or with another person, the male's automatic brain response is to problem solve or tell the woman how to fix the problem. This is not a male character trait, this is a common chemical reaction of the male brain that he cannot control. Think of that the next time your man won't just "listen" ladies.

The book continues with the fatherhood brain and the elderly brain, in which I could relate to dealing with my elderly father. There's just a time where the brain wants to take the focus off of yourself and move to your grandchildren, retirement, and general enjoyment. According to Brizendine, it seems every strong action or feeling or gratifying experience is dictated by the male brain. She does make it clear that urges that can be tamed with practice.

I'm not much of a book reviewer, but I loved the insight that this book gave on how I act and why I do it. I can't wait to read Brizendine's book on the female brain. I'm sure it's just as eye-opening...and complicated.

There's several conversation-provokers in this book including, "The female brain wants the hope of love and commitment before having sex but for men, sex often comes first." and if testosterone were beer a 9-year-old boy generates about a cup a day; yet by 15 he's creating about two gallons.

From "the solution seeker" to "the alarm system" Brizendine turns complex medical research about the parts of the brain into understandable language, writing in practical ways that enable us to better understand behavioral differences between women and men.

She also describes the ways a man's brain changes through the various stages in his life and how those changes affect how he relates to others. Her examples were specific and helpful. (Guess which topic remains uppermost on men's minds for most of their lives?)

She gives apt, memorable labels to the various hormones, including Zeus (testosterone), The Lion Tamer (oxytocin), Mom (prolactin), and Romeo (androstenedione).

This book helped me to better understand male behaviors ranging from male friends to choosing a mate and why they instinctively oogle good looking women, even when they are in love. Perhaps because of the sharp criticism she received for some of her conclusions in The Female Brain ("A woman uses about 20,000 words per day while a man uses about 7,000.") she includes extensive "Notes."

To get a sense of her book, she write that the male brain:
- "Has an area for sexual pursuit that is 2.5 times larger than the female brain, consuming him with sexual fantasies about female body parts." See why this book is a conversation provoker.

- "Is a lean, mean, problem-solving machine. Faced with a personal problem, a man will use his analytical brain structures, not his emotional ones, to find a solution."'

- "Experiences such a massive increase in testosterone at puberty that he perceive others' faces to be more aggressive."

- "Thrives under competition, instinctively plays rough and is obsessed with rank and hierarchy."

The good news for many women is that, as Gail Sheehey has also suggested, men become more emotionally akin to women in their late middle-age.

I know absolutely nothing about brain science before reading this book, but I feel like I know a little bit now. The introduction was VERY dry and I was afraid the whole book would be that way, but I really liked the way the author used case studies and "real life" scenarios to explain how and why the brain caused one reaction or another in a person. That made everything very understandable and readable for a layperson like myself.

Will this book put you well on your way toward a career in neuroscience or psychology? Hell no. But if you're looking for a way to understand the chemical/hormonal world of a man's brain, this will probably help. I felt like it helped me understand my husband better and made me love him even more. Perhaps I can get him to read The Female Brain and he'll have the same reaction ;-)

A somewhat oversimplified view into what makes men "male" still offers succinct insight into gender differences that many may find illuminating. It's a blend of "Men are from Mars/Women are from Venus" and a medical treatise, but in the easy-reader version, peppered with anecdotes that are trite enough to make the reader wonder if they are fictional.

I find Dr. Brizendine's take on things a bit simple, but I recognize some of the differences she describes as being frequent misconceptions (although misconceptions that could be cleared up with some quick research). Helping those less-analytical folks (who are less likely to research) understand the basis of these misconceptions is a worthy cause. Some typical male behaviors the author discusses include men looking at women other than their partner, the male reaction to a woman being emotionally upset, and the mechanisms of male arousal.

I also noted some diversions from my own male experiences. For example, her discussion of grade-school male social ranking is based on the behavior of well-integrated extroverts. Somebody like me who was physically imposing at the age, but introverted / not-well-integrated doesn't end up on either the top or the bottom of the social ranking as she suggests should be the case.

The author includes a fair number of her own motherhood anecdotes, but fortunately not so many as to be cloying. Sexuality gets acknowledgment as a constant undercurrent in the male brain, but despite that only gets a short few pages. There seems to be some bias towards explaining things for a female audience (or from a female perspective).

A third of the book is references and notes, which aren't clearly linked to the main body of the book. A slimmer volume without most of that, and instead a URL for a website containing further references, would have been more effective and more environmentally sound.

I waffled between 3 and 4 stars in my rating-- I find the simplicity of the writing personally grating, but I regularly witness people who don't really grasp that (hetro) males and females are not interchangable, that the differences should be celebrated as being part of what makes us human, rather than quashed. For the goal of communicating that concept to the masses, the author is commended. Recommended with Reservations.

The problem with science writing, is it frankly isn't very interesting. Good science frequently is unsatisfying, leaves more questions than it answers and doesn't make a good narrative. This book has a narrative and and answers, which means it probably isn't good science writing.

A book written by a sensationalist female scientist seeking to explain all men's thinking-- without really understanding what I think it means to be male. She Seems to think of maleness as a pathology, something that needs to be explained, and she reads a lot into studies which don't support the assertions she makes.

The Male Brain

By Louann Brizendine, M.D.

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

For this 271-page book, there are 40 pages of "Notes," and 82 pages of "References," or 122 pages out of 271 devoted to sources. Basically, this is a 135-page book.

It is truly a quick, interesting read full of stories, case studies, real-life scenarios, and anecdotes.

Despite the number of notes and references, this is not a scholarly work.

If you're new to the area of "brain science," this book will serve as an introduction to the chemical/hormonal world of a man's brain.

What Brizendine shows readers is how the brain is affected by various chemicals and hormones (i.e., testosterone, cortisol, oxytocin, vasopressin, etc.), how the brain ages from infant to elder, and how these changes affect the male personality.

Because the book is relatively jargon-free, uses plain language (despite her scientific background and the sources provided), is written in a clear, accessible style, its pop-culture-like feel, and her story-telling approach, the book should be read by women, boys, students, and others interested in a clear, direct, easy-to-understand approach.

It is truly an entertaining read, and women will not only understand men better, but they will be less likely to blame them for being men, and, thus, decrease the likelihood of conflict, especially conflict over issues that are deeply embedded in men's genes.

If her book, The Female Brain, is anything like this one (I haven't read it), I would recommend it to all men!

I found this study of the male brain fascinating. Although it contains necessary scientific terms, the book is written in a very easy-to-understand style. Plentiful examples are given to help the reader understand how the scientific information translates into specific actions and why men and boys act as they do.

That may be the most helpful part of the book. Men are from Mars--they can't help it; their brains are wired that way. Brizendine explains the how and why.

I highly recommend this book for moms wondering why their little boys are so different from their daughters; moms of teenagers who worry about their suddenly risk-taking, angry, I-don't-care-about-homework teens; wives and girlfriends who wonder why he acts like that; writers who need a better perspective on how men think and act; or any woman who wants to better understand the men (and boys) in their lives. Men likely already understand all this, living it themselves. However, they may be interested in the science behind their behavior.

The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that half of the book is appendices and references. Any buyer should know that up front and not be surprised. The actual book part of the book deserves closer to 5 stars. I do wish it had contained more info on any brain chemistry differences in homosexual men, but that's still a fairly new field. The Male Brain is a fascinating and enlightening read.

This book, which unabashedly calls itself "A Breakthrough Understanding of How Men and Boys Think," is an unfortunately disappointing read that feels more like a thesis than a real non-fiction science novel. This feeling isn't helped by the fact that half of the book (literally, from page 131 to page 262) consists of notes and references. The notes section helps shed some light on points made during the course of the book, but the references section will only be helpful to those with a strong research background who are familiar with the material being cited.

The first half of the book reads like a collection of "just-so stories" with the author laying out third-person story-lines that are combined with recounted conversations between herself and her patients (with mothers regarding their young boys, with male patients on dating, etc). This often proves awkward and fairly unconvincing - a patient asks a question of her: (ex. "One other thing I wanted to ask you is whether it's normal or not to fall asleep right after sex.") and she answers (ex. "I told him that this is something nearly all women complain about."). This presentation of information gets more and more repetitive the longer it goes on.

The information presented here is definitely interesting, but Brizendine's presentation is sorely lacking. Perhaps Brizendine was looking to make the scientific part of her material less dry for the rest of us, but in my opinion she toned it down too much and made the book sound simplistic and completely un-scientific. The massive amount of references tacked on to the end of the book indicate that she's done her research, but I think if she would have spent more time including the research in her writing explicitly the book would actually be a lot more readable. As it stands, the first half is too watered-down and the second half is too academic.

Science has realized what most of us knew - that males and females are hardwired differently from before birth! As a follow-up to her book on the female brain (which I have not read) the author describes what's going on that's distinctively male at each lifestage from babyhood to old age.

I don't think this is going to revolutionize how you deal with the men in your life if you're female, or how you see yourself if you're male. It might help moms understand that their boys really are very different from the very start, and that letting them wiggle a little may help them learn! Mostly it's just a very fascinating look at how hormones shape people's actions and who they are. The "Cast of Characters" that names and describes the actions of major hormones is very helpful for keeping their actions straight.

One thing that surprised me is that very nearly half of the book is appendix. That could be a good thing if you're interested in finding out more, or want to find sources to write a related research paper. Without going through all the author's references, it convinces me she did her research. But if you're reading for pleasure like I was, be warned that there are more like 130 pages to enjoy rather than the 260+ the book appears to be.

Several years ago, John Gray's "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" became an international bestseller. While I enjoyed reading it, I couldn't stop wondering why these distinct differences occur.

I read The Male Brain and The Female Brain by the same author together, and enjoyed more than "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus".

Both books explain why men and women are so different scientifically yet in a fully accessible way. They are useful for couples who can't understand each other, parents who don't understand children, and so on. If you are a young Mother and want your partner to participate raising children, "The Daddy Brain" part is particularly useful!

It would be a fun book for a book club discussion.

Be warned the book is 260+ pages, but only really 130 pages long of actual story reading as it has 45 pages of notes (Interesting read as well but somewhat repetitive from the initial narrative), 80 pages of references which I am thankful as Louann Brizendine did extensive research to put this awesome book together.
It really helps you understand why we (Males) are the way we are. It does not excuse excessive behaviors but it does explain why we do certain things and in a way it makes you feel powerless as it explains why you are who you are based on an influx of hormones and stages of your growth and development.
It's a brainy kind of book but written in a manner that anyone can understand; it gives you all the scientific info you need without going too deep but it definitely gives you the references if any topic tickles your interest to know more about it.
It's a fun, cool, eye opening "experience" of a book. I enjoyed the heck out of it and will read The Female brain soon!! Worth every penny!

While the facts in this book are interesting. I still don't have any empathy for male macho B.S. Learning the facts about the male brain and hormones and how it differs from the female brain is fascinating but it doesn't make me like all of the "I'm a tough guy" garbage any better then I did before.

In the epilogue the author states that she doesn't intend to say that males are all about sex and power, but you'd never know it reading the rest of the book, which maintains that males are essentially their hormones. Her take is astonishingly deterministic: testosterone, vasopressin and cortisol rule men's brains and so their lives and, the author says, not only is there nothing they can do about it, there's nothing they SHOULD do about it. In fact, the men, high on their sex and power hormones, behave much better than the women who are described here. Their different brain circuitry from the get-go pushes boys into being active and exploring the world around them, and the (mostly women) teachers who reprimand them are just inappropriately trying to force them to be girls. The rough and tumble and fighting play that they engage in is shaped by hormones and is much more interesting than static dolls' play. Disciplinarian fathers are actually better for kids' development than their spoiling mothers. The women that men have to deal with in their adult lives come across here as whiny, self-centered, controlling, overly emotional, and oblivious to men's needs. If men behave badly, it's not their fault. Mother's complaint that teen boys are engaged in risky behavior? Well, boys have to be boys and the mothers should just deal with it. Women's complaint that men don't listen to them? Men's brains just naturally tune out more "white noise" than women's, and they can't help it that this is the way women's nattering seems to them. Only the author *really* understands them. Are all of our behaviors really so deterministic? Any thinking human being should make sure that they are not. In the author's world, however, we don't think, we're just prisoners of our brain biology. And that's perfectly fine with her.

The night I started reading this book, I had just been complaining to my husband that he was not showing enough empathy for a problem I was trying to discuss with him. Interestingly enough, the author of this book pointed out that male brain's have less space for feelings of empathy. So in fairness I had to point this out to my husband, who seemed quite happy to be off the hook for not being as empathetic as I'd like.

I liked many parts of this book, especially those that went into detail of the differences in male and female brains due to gender differences. Basically in many aspects men and women really are simply just wired differently, with major differences due to different sex hormones, which makes men, especially teen and young adult males, more aggressive and territorial than women.

The one major thing that was lacking from this book was any discussion of what role diet and related environmental factors may play in gender trait differences. As a mom with kids, I know from going to play groups with our kids at early ages that boys tend to be more aggressive than girls from the get go, even in families that tried their best to provide gender neutral, politically correct toys for their boys. However, in many play group there were often some girls who were just as aggressive, loud and territorial as the wildest boys and often some boys who were very happy to play house, and even do the pretend cooking and child care, along with the mildest girls. Clearly there is a lot more than just gender going in the development traits of children.

There is an abundance of literature on foods and toxins that impact sex hormones for both men and women, so it really seemed lacking that the role of environmental factors was not mentioned in this book. Overall I thought the book had many interesting points, but the way it treated gender differences as something hard wired from birth uninfluenced by other factors such as nutrition, made it seem a bit myopic from a research point of view.