Attraction, love, sex : the inside story / Simon LeVay.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Columbia University Press, [2023]Description: ix, 284 pages : illustrations ; 23 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780231204507
- 0231204507
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
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Main Library | NonFiction | 155.3 L656 | Available | 33111011289291 | ||||
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Adult Book
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Northport Library | NonFiction | 155.3 L656 | Available | 33111009477155 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Sex, after hunger, may be the most powerful motivating force in our lives. It drives us to seek intimate contact with others and to form relationships that may be fleeting or lifelong, blissful or troubled. Yet many mysteries surround sex and sexuality: Why don't we reproduce by virgin birth? Why does so much of our sexual behavior have nothing to do with reproduction? Why isn't everyone heterosexual? How does the brain create sexual arousal? How do sexual kinks develop? Is porn harmful? What is the relationship between sex and love?
In Attraction, Love, Sex , the renowned scholar Simon LeVay introduces readers to a memorable cast of researchers trying to answer these questions and many more. A biologist dredges a New Zealand lake for asexual mud snails. Psychologists measure whether eating a good meal changes a man's idea of female beauty. Physiologists probe orifices with miniature toilet plungers and place lovers in brain scanners. Geneticists reconstruct the sex crimes of Genghis Khan. Neuroscientists create mice whose sexual behavior can be switched on and off. A zoologist traps and releases 260,000 voles and launches a new science of love.
LeVay distills vast expertise on the biology and psychology of sex into an engaging and easy-to-understand survey with scientific acumen, a critical eye, and a sense of humor. This book reveals how scientists are unraveling the secrets of sex and, in the process, shattering many traditional ideas and prejudices.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Why have sex? -- Attraction -- Arousal -- Orientation -- Having sex -- Relationships -- Paraphilias -- Pedophilia -- Porn -- Rape -- Love.
"To find out why people have sex, Curt Lively trawls a New Zealand lake for mud snails. Mayte Parada puts volunteers in an MRI scanner and turns on the porn. Andrea Ganna searches the genomes of half a million Brits. Almond-scented rats, Genghis Khan's family tree, Pornhub statistics-it's all in a day's work for sex researchers. This book introduces readers to sex researchers and explains the questions they are asking and the methods they are using to discover the answers. Renowned sex researcher Simon LeVay asks: Why do humans have sex? What happens in the brain when we're getting it on? How do 'kinks' develop? What is love? And many other topics-some frivolous, some tragically serious-all studied by fearless but fallible researchers. Sex, they have shown, is as worthy of scientific inquiry as any other facet of human nature"-- Provided by publisher.