Rating: 
Summary: Wow! Amazing story......
Review: I just finished reading this book a few days ago. I couldn't put the book down and wanted to finish it to the end. Bravo to David who was strong enough to see it through. It's just very sad how we can be too trusting of authority. We need to question the motives of people like Dr. Money. He was in it for the glory. He wasn't thinking of the children at all. Besides, what God makes us is what we should accept. We have no right to change what God has given us at birth. We are who we are.
Rating:
Summary: excellent!
Review: This book represents the best in non fiction reading. It is both educating and exciting to read. I really loved this book and truly had no real interest in the subject of sexual reassignment. However, I had seen the story on one of the tv news magazine shows and thought it might be interesting. I am shocked that a supposedly intelligent person, Dr. Money, would have ever suggested to the family that changing the gender of the boy who suffered a botched circumcision was the favorable solution. It's unthinkable that it took years for this story to come to light. I hope that David understands the selfless act he did in allowing this book to be written. The pain that EVERY member in this family must have endured is tragic. I can only hope that in future cases that doctors will allow the child to come of age to make the choice themself. David is a MAN to be admired.
Rating: 
Summary: A quick and interesting read
Review: This book can make you feel really angry about what this young child had to go through. Never feeling right about himself because he was being raised as a girl, but he never fit in because he was a boy throughout. My husband and I both read it because we are both very interested in psychology and how the way we are raised effects our lives. It will make those of us raised in a normal enviornment with average lives appreciate that we did not have to deal with such a problem, both as a parent or a child.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing
Review: This is an interesting read for anyone interested in the nature of sexuality. One is always disturbed by tales of medical practices that turn out to be so totally off base--in this case, an overemphsis on the physical organs led doctors to perform sex change operations on young children before their innate sexuality was clearly identified. We would all like to beleive in the good faith and open-mindedness of the medical profession, but sexuality seems to be an area where doctors are especially prone to believe that things are turning out the way they want them to rather than the way they really are. There are always two sides, but the conduct of the physicians in this case--the researchers who hailed this as a landmark case of true change of sex--is hard to explain. Anyone who has experience with young children knows that they begin to exhibit "boy" and "girl" qualities at a very early age. Modern gene research tells us that sexuality is a most complex matter, hardly as simple as what organ a person has.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe Doctors aren't God after all.
Review: A good read for anyone who doesn't think they should question authority.
Rating:
Summary: A model of popular science, and a great read
Review: John Colapinto has done everyone a great service, in digging up the truth of this story, and putting it down in print for all to see.Dr. John Money would (you imagine) find it hard to look himself in the mirror after reading this. He comes off as the heavy in this book, a slave to his overweening ambition and intellectual arrogance. The hero is Bruce/David, the boy who tragically lost his genitals in an accident, and then, at Dr. Money's insistence, was reassigned to the female sex and raised as a girl, "Brenda." It's a harrowing tale, and it completely destroys Dr. Money's theory that social pressure and sex-of-assignment will easily outweigh trivial facts (such as genetic sex!) The "experiment" was so harrowing and so disgusting to David that he really refuses to think about it or discuss it. Note also Dr. Money's contemptible conduct in trying to "cover up" this true story. Hihgly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Creepy and sad
Review: Although well-written, I found this book to be intensely creepy and sad. Once you get the point -- this poor boy was denied his true identity -- what else is left except one sad anecdote after another. It's a true tragedy, and not one that makes for particularly compelling reading, IMHO.
Rating:
Summary: Never should the opinion of a Doctor go unquestioned.
Review: One great thing this book does is unmask the fact that many "Scholars," Medical Doctors and Psychologists/Physiatrists will often use patients to test out pet theories, or to forward personal agendas for gains in prestige and money, of course. So, next time a physician or shrink suggests some sort of treatment or therapy to fix something, and it seems dubious - it probably is. Never should the opinion of these professionals go unquestioned. They need to be able to present acceptable statistical and scientifically rigorous evidence if they're suggesting something as radical as surgically changing one's genitals. And parents should always be informed of what a psychologist intends to say to a child in a therapy session. The fact that this child in the book was subjected to pornography as part of his/her treatment is an outrage.
Rating:
Summary: Very emotive and interesting book!!!
Review: This book was written in such a way that kept me reading. I could hardly put it down. What happened to this boy is really terrible. He inspires me in many ways to know that he could keep going even after all that has happened to him. I admire his strength to go on and all his wisdom he has gained from his experience.
Rating:
Summary: Important. Gripping And Powerful.
Review: "As Nature Made Him" is one of the important current works of non-fiction. It reads like a nightmare that ends in revelation and bittersweet triumph. It also exposes the wrongness behind some ideas and correctness in others. This is a brilliant book because it is so much. It is an important medical documentation of a case that will fascinate medical students and the normal reading populace alike for years to come, it is also a gripping tale of a family enduring great pain and still manage to stay together after going through, literally, hell. But what the book proves to the most to me, is that we are what we are not by how we are raised, but because God and nature (depending on your belief system) intended it that way. You simply cannot change what you are, and this story proves it. Our hero, David (what a courageous person to come out into the light after so much suffering!) clearly states that he never felt like a girl while growing up and was relieved when he was finally told the truth about his gender. As for "Dr." John Money, he comes out as a perverse monster and liar. A guy who had a depressing childhood and in rebellion, turned into some sort of "formal" pervert. How can a true man of science and medicine give interviews to pro-pedophile journal groups? Money is obviously a shameless pornographer of science who deserves no praise at all. He basically destroyed a childhood and almost destroyed a family who was in desperation for help. He obviously took advantage of them for his own personal gains. "As Nature Made Him" is a riveting read. The author, John Colapinto, shows an incredible attention to detail and really does inform the reader on the issues discussed. This is a true must-read.
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