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 - Sexist pseudoscience aimed at promoting the author's favourite pharmaceuticalAs a product of the female brain, I'm afraid to say that this disgraceful excuse for objective research does more damage to the reputation of female brain power than the worst mysogynist could. Just as I would reject research from an Anti-Semite that showed that Jews are genetically disadvantaged, research from a Ku Klux Klanner that showed that African-Americans are stupid, or research by a communist showing that capitalists are more greedy, so I do not consider research from a proven mysandrist who has shown that men are mentally inferior to women. Louann 'Zoloft' Brizendine does no favours for the many intelligent women in the world by lumping them altogether into a mysogynistic community which 'men will develop a serious case of brain envy' over. Men will only start developing 'brain envy' when these supposedly superior brains put their money where their mouth is, and demonstrate their superiority. Instead, in the realms of brain power and its corresponding creativity these Einsteins have put on a poor show. There are no long lines of women outside the US Patent office, waiting to introduce to the world their brainwaves. Instead, they show the typical failure of supposedly master multitaskers to have any UNItasking skills, which alone can give one the focused, concentrated thinking necessary for a level of mentation far above that ever dreamed of by Ms Zoloft. What she demonstrates with this drivel are the devastating results of combining an unconscious inferiority complex with ignorance and arrogance. I don't know how much commission Brizendine is getting from Zoloft for promoting and marketing their products in a work of 'objective research', but I have no doubt the association of Zoloft with the paltry abilities of Brizendine can in the long term only damage the reputation of the pharmaceutical in question. Don't, don't, don't waste your money on this book now - soon it will be cheaper than toilet paper, when at last it could be used to serve a useful function. Rating:  - It went into the trashI read this as a layperson and came to the conclusion that it was a skewed collection of misinformation meant only to cushion between its pages the promotion of specific drugs. The only thought provoked by this book was, "How much did the drug companies pay her?" I keep or donate all of my books. Not this one--it went straight into the recycle bin. Rating:  - EmpoweringLet me ask all the women readers a question? If you had access to Aladdin's lamp, what would your three wishes be. Eternal youth? Money? Power? Think again, I agree with Louann Brizedendine, Author of "The Female Brain", that all of us really want: More joy in our lives A fulfilling relationship And last but not the least, more personal time to grow. Men often wonder what women want? The key to this secret is in understanding that women have a special gift. Not only we have an exquisitely configured prefrontal gyrus and hippocampus but our neurons are constantly being suffused by the Big E and the Big O. This potent synergy endows us with the magic of being smart AND nurturing. Our grandmothers and mothers ( successful home makers) have shown us by example that the "Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." This adage is even more relevant today. You might have heard the Dalai Lama's recent address that: HE WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE WOMEN WORLD LEADERS. (Are the men listening? Ready or not, here we come!) In the 21st Century, for the first time, women are enjoying the luxury of pursuing intellectual and scientific pursuits. Today we have a better control of our hippocampus-triggered emotions, fertility and economic independence. Now is the time to logically eye-ball our responsibilities and appropriately utilize our social support system and technology to juggle the role of a model "care-giver" with any challenging profession. Remember, we lead with style and panache. Rating: - Part Revealing, Part DepressingRead as a man, the book basically tells you that, no matter what you believe or what women say about the qualities they are looking in a man, they are hard wired to choose the one with cash, a house in the Hamptons, and clothes from Bergdorf & Goodman. I knew that already. So: squander your money (if you have any) or stay single. Good luck. Rating: - File in Fiction, not Science.The problem with this book is that Brizendine actively misrepresents research and uses numbers that are basically made-up. Her "science" doesn't stand up to scrutiny. For instance, on differences between male and female speech patterns she claims that women speak three times more words than men in a day, and speak almost twice as fast. In fact, no reliable studies had been done when the book came out. Prompted by the book, somebody actually bothered to measure, and it turned out that men and women speak about the same number of words, and men speak (very slightly) faster. You can get details about the studies from the excellent blog LanguageLog, which reports on real linguistic science. Google for the post titled "Gabby guys: the effect size". In sum: This book should be filed in the Fiction section, not the Science section. In association with Amazon.com | |