The Female Brain
by Louann Brizendine
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Book Summary Information
Author: Louann BrizendineEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-08-07
ISBN: 0767920104
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780767920100
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Female Brain
Book Review: An Essential Look Inside the Female Brain
Summary: 5 Stars
As a female interested in biological forces, this book offered tremendous insight into why I act and think the way I do. The Female Brain explains the female brain in an informative but witty way. In this review, I intend to educate readers on the details of the book to try to encourage everyone to read it. I believe this book will better prepare females for certain events in their lives, and possibly make life a little easier consequently. Dr. Brizendine writes in a humorous and fun fashion that keeps you entertained while learning. She also writes in a language in which the average reader can understand, even without any knowledge of the brain or biology in general.
Style/Structure
The book is broken into seven chapters representing different stages of female development as well as chapters on sex, love and trust, and emotion. The book starts with an introduction describing the history of the study of female brains and Dr. Brizandine's interest in it. The book emphasizes the large role hormones have on the female brain in regulation of emotions and how a female acts. She even includes a chart of the various hormonal changes in each stage of female life and the consequences these hormones have on the female. Each chapter is subsequently broken into different subsections, stressing important points of each topic. She uses stories of various patients of hers to elucidate women's actions and feelings during specific stages of life throughout the book. The book concludes with research on hormone therapy and the author's stance and experience with it.
Synopsis
In the first chapter titled "The Birth of the Female Brain", the author states that the brain of a fetus is the same in each gender until the eighth week of development in which if the fetus is a male, "a huge testosterone surge" kills cells in communication centers of the brain and increases cell growth in the aggression centers. According to the author, this causes one of the primary differences between male and female brains, leading to girls showing more empathy and cooperation with peers. Girls can even "hear a broader range of emotional tones in the human voice than can boys."
"Teen Girl Brain" relates initiation of the cycling of the hormones estrogen and progesterone to the actions of females during these tough years. She explains how the levels of hormones at various stages of the cycle lead from stress at one point to irritability at another. Also, the author explains how the hormones increase memory, the desire to talk, and sexual urges at various point during the cycle. The brain becomes sharper due to "a twenty five percent growth of connections in the hippocampus during weeks one and two [of the menstrual cycle]."
The chapter on love and trust focuses on subjects such as chemical attraction, the intricacies of the brain "in love", and evolutionary forces of mating and women's trust in men. The author emphasizes the effects that dopamine and oxytocin have on the brain, including affecting judgment and trust. The affect of hormones are so strong that " the brain circuits that are activated when we are in love match those of the drug addict."
The author also elaborates on different aspects of sex, delving into both research and evolutionary reasons of the female orgasm. This chapter also explores reasons behind female infidelity, suggesting that heightened detection of male pheromones right before ovulation may be a cause.
The chapter titled "The Mommy Brain" highlights the role of hormones on the female brain both during pregnancy and after the birth of the baby. Topics such as the pleasure of breast feeding, returning to work, and even the "daddy brain" are addressed. She mainly emphasizes the intimate connection between mother and child. For example, the mother can detect the smell of her baby with about ninety percent accuracy.
The chapter on emotion focuses on women's heightened emotional sense and how it affects various aspects. Women unconsciously participate in an act called "mirroring" in which involves imitating the facial expression of someone else in order to assess the other's emotions. She addresses the female's better emotional memory as well as her tendency to avoid conflict. Additionally, possible causes behind female's greater anxiety and depression than men are described.
Finally, "The Mature Female Brain" is all about the struggles women go through during their menopausal years. The author stresses the shock a female's body goes through during the withdrawal of hormones that have been affecting her body her entire life. This leads to increased ambition towards working and decreased responsibility in caring for the family. The author suggests hormone therapy as a way to reverse declining function of the brain such as the loss of memory.
Critique
I really enjoyed the author's use of stories of her patients because it kept the book more entertaining while providing situations that linked in well with the topic that she was covering. At first, I was worried that the book would be all facts and statistics but I was pleasantly surprised at how the author incorporated those stories as well as various other theories in biological science. For example, she links certain female tendencies to evolutionary forces such as the "fight or flight" response.
The book surprisingly contained a fair amount of information on the male as well. Most of these references were comparing the two sexes. At some points, I felt a bit of a feminist vibe in the way she talks about men, as most of her references imply ways in which females are better than males. However, I do not think the way in which she does this would offend the average male reader.
As a female, I found the chapter on love and trust to be particularly enthralling. I found the role of oxytocin and dopamine particularly interesting on the foundations of trust and happiness in relationships. One fact that I find very interesting is that hugging and cuddling cause a release of oxytocin in the brain which leads to the female trusting the man. The book provided me with greater insight into why I feel so in love with my boyfriend, no matter how crazy he drives me sometimes! As a biology major, I also enjoyed the connections the author made using ecology and evolution.
In relation to neuroscience, the book taught me more about the various regions of the brain and their various roles. However, the book most extensively covers the role of hormones on the brain. At first, I thought the author was using too much of a hormonal basis for female actions and emotions, but after reading more of the book I was happy to discover her incorporation of other elements such as ecology, genetics, and evolution. I believe she does a wonderful job in tying all of the information together in a logical way without any awkward transitions.
Recommendation
I encourage everyone to read this book as it has definitely become one of my favorites. Dr. Brizendine does a fantastic job at keeping the audience captivated so that you never want to put the book down. The book gave me significant insight into the large hormonal forces that guide female behavior. I think the book is a great read for both males and females so that each sex can have a greater understanding of the female and the biological forces that drive her.
Summary of The Female Brain
Why are women more verbal than men? Why do women remember details of fights that men can?t remember at all? Why do women tend to form deeper bonds with their female friends than men do with their male counterparts? These and other questions have stumped both sexes throughout the ages.Now, pioneering neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, M.D., brings together the latest findings to show how the unique structure of the female brain determines how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and who they love. While doing research as a medical student at Yale and then as a resident and faculty member at Harvard, Louann Brizendine discovered that almost all of the clinical data in existence on neurology, psychology, and neurobiology focused exclusively on males. In response to the overwhelming need for information on the female mind, Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat women?s brain function.
In The Female Brain, Dr. Brizendine distills all her findings and the latest information from the scientific community in a highly accessible book that educates women about their unique brain/body/behavior.
The result: women will come away from this book knowing that they have a lean, mean, communicating machine. Men will develop a serious case of brain envy.
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