Rating: 
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: Beautifully written. Angier has a true gift for translating scientific facts and theories into a lyrical narration. She relates everything she writes about to the human experience, making it all the more meaningful. When I read this book, I not only learned, but I was forced to think about things in ways I hadn't before. I would strongly recommend this book to every person I know.
Rating:
Summary: An informative, worthwhile and entertaining read...
Review: .. others have missed the point of Woman, that it is a book celebrating female physiology and biology in a way that it often has not been by the (typically now but almost always in years past) male science writers. This is not to say that there are no good books about the female body, simply that this once should be taken in the construct in which it was conceived.Angier certainly does convey the wonder of the female body, the absolute miracle of the biology that creates and sustains life. And she also makes a compelling case for the argument that the biology of women has traditionally been seen as 'other,' with the norm being male, and that writing, opinion and diagnoses (particularly psychological) have often sprung from this misconception - the fact that every fetus starts of as female still does nothing to convince people that woman are not the second sex. Many of the recent books I've read in evolutionary biology highlight this basic dichotomy, with the male traits still somehow the 'better,' more highly evolved ones (of course, that many female writers feel differently illustrates clearly how science, a 'rational,' 'logical' and 'intellectual' discipline is nevertheless highly subjective). I think that Woman is marvelous in its celebration of woman and her unique capacity to give birth (with the help, of course...). The myths about menstruation that have been around forever - including the current theory du jour that women don't NEED to menstruate - have made it a curse, a major pain, a source of suffering, and it cretinaly is amazingly refreshing to have it and other parts of being female actually spoken of in wonder at nature's incredible artistry to devise such cool ways of keeping a woman's body healthy. I am not a scientist, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of her scientific data, but I did learn a lot that has been borne out in other things that I've read. Angier's wit, intelligence and incredible writing made it impossible for me to put this book down, and I have since then recommended it to many women who have loved it - and who got sick of me saying 'wanna hear something cool?' I think this book is also important in the way it approaches female biology, not as something incidental but as part of the miracle of nature. In a society in which women are encouraged to hate their bodies, I think this book has incredible significance and recommend it most highly. It is, however, as much a social commentary as anything else, so for 'pure' science you might, as others have suggested here, want to look elsewhere as well.
Rating: 
Summary: A book for "parity" of women
Review: I don't think there is anything remarkable in this book. All of the knowledge can be readily found in any textbook for first-year colloge student in "Human Sexulity" course. For more depth and professionally precise infomation, any medical textbook on gynecology contains infomation on female anatomy, physiology, and sexuality -- presented professionally and with authortiy. (But textbooks mentioned above usually are not displayed in commercial bookstores. But you can find them in Amazon.com). That's why to many laymen this book sounds like a new discovery of female. It's not. Also regarding the question of "what women want", Natalier Angier guesses it's a satisfaction of "a desire for emotional parity" (parity = equality in status, pay, rights, etc). That's a nonsense. "...a desire for emotional parity is widespread and profound. It doesn't go away, although it often hibernates under duress", Angier wrote in a New York Times article last year. It sounds that women are pitifully under oppression! That's again a nonsense. By the way, the really authoritive persons qualified to write about women physiology and psychology and anatomy is medical doctors and researcher like Williams Masters, etc....
Rating:
Summary: Delicious and riveting
Review: I have not enjoyed a book this much in years.. Wow, can this person WRITE! There is pathos, wit, and sometimes just plain belly laughs. She understands the female persona, and the information given is accurate and thought-provoking. I highly recommend it to all of my Psychology classes, and give them extra credit after they read and critique it. Most of the students have never been exposed to this depth of thought, in this subject area. I understand the Pulitzer Prize....
Rating: 
Summary: INFORMATIVE and quite interesting for all aged women!
Review: Learned a few things here. Very broad and informative about the female body and it's varied life tasks. I found the chapters covering hormones, desire, estrogen, and evolutionary psychology to be very interesting and informative. A thorough and complete defining of the female make-up from the body through to the emotional and from babes to grandparenting. Well done.
Rating: 
Summary: Inaccuracies of Interviews Lost Me.....
Review: Thoroughly well written book...but I stopped reading on page 121. Ms. Angier's perceptions of Beth Tiner's recovery from hysterectomy due to endometriosis are inaccurate and paint a picture of a well-recovered hysterectomy patient. If she got this wrong, where else did she error? Ms. Angier specifically wrote "Tiner herself had a hysterectomy at the age of twenty-five to treat endometriosis that had tormented her with pain since she was seventeen. She doesn't regret having had the surgery. She doesn't have the pain anymore." Clearly, Ms. Angier does not subscribe to Sans Uteri or read Beth Tiner's frequent posts there. Just where DID she get this perception from? I put the book down after reading what Ms. Angier wrote and haven't picked it back up to finish yet. I'm not sure I will.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book
Review: Angier has a rather flowery writing style, and it took me a bit of time to get used to it. I was well rewarded in doing so. The book is packed with fascinating information that is analyzed with logic and wit. Her critique of evolutionary psychology is brilliantly on-target. My only major criticism of the book regards her chapters on the breast. She spends more time talking about aesthetics than physiology or function, and her comments on breastfeeding are oddly negative. She gives short shrift to the benefits breastfeeding gives babies, and she doesn't even mention the benefits it provides to the women who breastfeed (such as decreased risk of breast cancer). This book was fascinating and very much worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Even better on second read
Review: Looking through Woman for a particular passage, I found myself rereading whole chunks and chuckling anew. This book is just as fresh the second time around, so if you haven't read it once I envy you: you're in for a real treat.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I have ever read about the female body
Review: I can't put this book down--it really is the best book about the female body I have ever read and I can't recommend this enough--to women as well as to men. I have pretty good self esteem about my body, but this book has made me feel even better about being a woman and has made me love all my "parts" even more. It contains some of the most interesting and best information I have seen anywhere, and I simply can't put it down. I am buying this book for all my female friends and relatives.
Rating:
Summary: Teachers should recommend this book
Review: As both an avid reader and a teacher of English in a secondary school I think that the informative as well as the literary value of this book is unquestionable. It is beautifully and very carefully written and accessible to every woman and man with a minimal knowledge of the world and desire to know and understand. I will certainly encourage my older students to read it.
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