Rating: 
Summary: Mental excellence applied to Sex and History.
Review: I find Leonard Shlain's work profound and exciting.
With care, consider:
Due to the sensitivity and processing capacity of the human brain, a football player can calculate the exact trajectory and force required to place a ball in the endzone instantaneously;doing this mathematically on a computer requires time and effort(is difficult). Consider, then, this organ's response to it's environment and the reflexive nature of the same-that it registers the results of its actions and modifies behavior-and Shlain's claims are not far fetched.Over time, baldness, changes in language and sexual propensities and psychological constructs will occur especially when reproduction is the driver(in this case, the behavior of women and the male response to the same).Anyone familiar with the use of women in advertising will agree that they do stimulate behavioral response. The element some review writers seem not to understand is the sheer extent of change possible with time and continuous stimulation tied to survival.
My own extension here is that TIME is simply the first PATTERN we observed; that observation and use of patterns was the gift of menses.Patterns are obvious in mathematics, all physical sciences and the social sciences as well, hence our civilization in entirety. Anyone looked at stock market trends/patterns lately?
This becomes an extremely useful text on human behavior and evolution for the interested reader.Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting View of Evolution
Review: I found the reading to be quite easy - this isn't a dry academic tome but an interesting and enjoyable read. Most of Shlain's arguments seem well-based but others seem quite speculative. At one point, I began wondering why early human woman ever had sex - the level of maternal mortality and the lack of estrus would seem to create a strong disincentive.
Rating: 
Summary: Innovative ideas
Review: I heard Dr. Shlain on NPR discussing this book. Over the next month, I kept wondering about his theories and eventually bought the book. I wasn't disappointed.
The heavy hitting ideas come early and then, like some have noted, it fizzles into random speculation. For example, Chapter 17's Theory of Eights was interesting but not as powerful as the earlier theories. It was frustrating because I felt he could have expanded his later material into more interesting chapters if he had talked with more anthropologists. For example, Chapter 20 briefly mentions Neanderthals "large, big-boned homid cousins" ... "vanished. No one knows with certainty why." and then plunges into a "this child looks like me" theory. Given his theories from Chapter 2, I expected some mention of the Neaderthal's brain size -- equal or greater tban the modern average human. I would have been more interested in his thoughts about the differences between moderns and Neaderthals and speculations about their extinction/interbreeding than I was in the thoughts of his fictitious Cro-Magnon man. Also troubling was the lack of discussion of Polygamy when he mentioned age differences in Chapter 7. In polygamous cultures in Africa many first marriages have exactly that same age difference, with young men's first marriages being to older widowed woman. That would be a good reason for the age difference of libidos to exist, yet he seems unaware of it and shows a monogamy bias throughout. Regardless, his main theories seem rooted in cultural materialism logic, the book's real strength. (What were the material needs that evolving women had and still have?) Also, there are many interesting facts from his medical training and ample research to support all facts presented. His weaknesses, however, were lack of anthropological training, bias towards his own lifestyle and cultural norms, and a willingness to explain EVERYTHING in one book. Overall more of a fun book than a serious evolution text but worth buying because he offers a different perspective to the evolution puzzle.
Rating:
Summary: Innovative ideas
Review: I heard Dr. Shlain on NPR discussing this book. Over the next month, I kept wondering about his theories and eventually bought the book. I wasn't disappointed.
The heavy hitting ideas come early and then like some reviewers have noted, it fizzles into more random speculation. For me, this started at Chapter 17. Theory of Eights is interesting but not as powerful as the earlier theories. Later chapters weren't all THAT bad, as some reviewers have suggested, but they weren't that thought provoking either. A disappointment
especially when he could expanded his material to make more interesting ones ... if he only had more training in anthropology. Like in Chapter 20 ... brief mention of Neanderthals but given his theory AND that they were the largest brained hominids EVER, well, couldn't he have connected the dots. Interbreed or die? An example of his theories in action. And then, the total lack of discussion of Polygamy when he mentioned age differences in Chapter 7 ... like the first marrage of many young men to widowed woman... wouldn't that be a good reason for the age difference of libidos to exist. An anthropologist would not have been so eager to embrace the monogamy bias that this work shows throughout, especially not when reconstructing the past.) Regardless, his theories have a cultural materialistic quality about them, which I thought was the book's real strength. (What were the material needs that evolving women had and still have? Iron and the risk of dying in childbirth.) Also, this book had a lot of interesting tidbits from his medical training, which were fascinating. The insights about women, iron and carbohydrates in the first ten chapters make it great book for women to read, if only to learn a little bit more about themselves. I also liked his extensive footnotes and research he did for this book. Quite impressive! His weaknesses: lack of anthropological training, bias towards his own lifestyle and cultural norms, and a willingness to explain EVERYTHING in one book.
However, this IS a book to take note of if you are in the field of anthropology. His perspective is a refreshing look at the evolution puzzle.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Thought Provoking
Review: I just finished this book and I was quite impressed. Sure, some of Mr. Shlain's theories are pure speculation, but since none of us were actually there, that's all we can really go on. Either way, it still makes you think and provides for something to talk about amongst friends, family, and collegues.
One theory that I found particularly interesting was the difference between the timing of male and female orgasms. One part is women developed an orgasm for the simple reason of incentive. Think about it...if there was no incentive for women to have sex outside of bearing children there would be a lot less people in this world. The other reason is something you'll need to read the book for. ;-)
Also, the conversation between Adam and the other men as well as Eve and the other women was the only thing that I didn't like as much as the rest of the book, but that was purely the writing style of that section, which I know Mr. Shlain took poetic license with. Aside from that I believe there were a lot of things that changed when men discovered that they were genetically linked to their children (some good, some not so good). No matter what connection a man has to his children it is only the female, barring a DNA test, who knows for a fact that she is the mother of that child. Only a woman can trace her lineage straight down the line (a woman comes from a woman comes from a woman, etc); a man doesn't have that luxury. This is not saying that men aren't important, but the roles of men and women are in a transition and hopefully everything will work out in the end for both sexes.
Other books: In The Red Queen even the author, in the Epilogue, acknowledges that half the ideas in the book are probably wrong, and the author of The Moral Animal relied heavily on Darwin for his ideas (which is not necessarily wrong, but I don't think Darwin is the be-all-end-all of scientific thought). Of course, if you already think that way and want to back up your ideas then those are books you want to pick up.
Rating:
Summary: a stimulating book like few i have read!
Review: i thought this book was amazing. i picked it up on a trip to the bay area and it connected me to the whole stream of evolution. i think we are so divorced from our nature as animals, as biological things as connected with other biological things - this book really helped me to feel more connected to myself, to others, in a way few books i have ever read have done so. i have read so much philosophy, theology - its refreshing to read something that challenges you to think about your biological being, its drives and what shaped them, and to consider stimulating reasons why they were shaped that way, what the point is evolutionarily. he just kees coming at you with provocative ideas that you want to play with, add to, discuss with other people... i couldn't put the book down, i wanted to read more, about what his conclusions were... bravo to shlain for having the guts to think and write creatively! he even made me feel connected to fellow creatures such as reviewers who think writing in academe, where no one will ever read what you have to say, or in a "peer reviewed journal", is somehow the mark of anything near "the truth". those people are happy to hog their little conclusions to themselves and never let any normal people (whom they underestimate intellectually) learn from their efforts. plus they are jealous that someone wrote such an interesting book in their field! good job, leonard shlain, for bringing us in the loop of so many fascinating ideas, and your insightful conclusions.
Rating:
Summary: I believe much of what he says is true. Makes sense.
Review: I took my time with this book. Pondered and reflected. Much of what he says seems to make so much sense. Our life in the modern world has so much to do with the progression of events happening 150,000 years ago. This book is a good one to help with male/female relationships. I found the book extremely interesting. The only portion I didn't enjoy as much was the Adam/Eve suggested portrayal. It went on a bit too long. But, because of this author, I seek to know more. Ordered The Red Queen and fully intend to find out all I can. To you Mr. Shlain I extend my thanks. You are a good teacher and I appreciated your book.
Rating:
Summary: Connection and Compilation
Review: Iam gratified to see the appearance of this book for many reasons. First, it shows that this rich culture has something alive and well in it that a medical doctor, in a long line of medical men from classical times, has taken a hint from his experience and expanded it into a plausible thesis. Efforts like this are good news indeed. This book also illustrates what a remarkable research engine this culture has evolved. It is the heighth of culture that libraries, book sellers, and a large literate class of researchers should cooperate in cataloguing and arranging collective experience and setting it forth in footnotes, asterisks, daggers, bibliography and list of illustrations and an index, achieving not only a test for plausibility but clarity in exposition. To us it is commonplace, but it is something of a miracle, as much a miracle as the development of the human mind. The Internet doesn't hold a candle to it; indeed the Internet needs to develop a tree of reference leading back in time and forward into theory badly. A book using the fruits of Science to advance knowledge stands or falls on the width of its reference and the clarity of its exposition. Dr. Shlain has done well in both respects. The labor intensive legwork involved in creating such a book is overwhelming. The chance it gives us to review the latest research is invaluable. This kind of Science presented in accessible language is like a much needed bucketful of icewater in the face of everyday, conventional dreaming. We need more of it, no matter what outraged argument ensues. I wish for one more evolution - that this culture develop the kind of literacy that would make books like this universally read and debated. Then we might get a general idea that though we may have our heads in the stars, our feet are eternally in the creative mud of life and we have to live with both mud and brilliance.
Rating: 
Summary: not the best book on evolution
Review: If you are looking for intriguing (but sometimes downright comical)
ideas about the evolution of human external characteristics and
internal traits -- this is a book for you. You will find answers to
the questions we all want to ask -- how has the male-female
relationship evolved, why females have hidden ovulation and
menstruate, how did male circumcision come about, etc. The best parts
of the book contain thoughtful descriptions of the homo sapiens'
anatomy and body functions. Unfortunately, the book is much more
successful in asking interesting questions than answering them. It
will take increasing perseverance to stick to the book as it unfolds,
since the author manages to frustrate both the rationalizing,
logic-and-consistency-loving-readers, and (I imagine) the more
soul/creator-searching, open-minded ones. Shlain is too busy writing
amusing theatrical scenes involving Pleistocene men, to have much time
to bother about details like -- what does natural selection act upon
-- the genes, the kin, the larger group, or the species (see
R. Dawkins and the plethora of socio-biological answers to his
"Selfish Gene" book). Shlain's Pleistocene man (usually called Adam)
is involved in strange conflict-with/adaptation-to something/someone
called "Mother Nature", which to the frustration of creationists, is
not an intelligent designer (aka God), and to the chagrin of the
proponents of evolution, is not a legitimate (logical, consistent,
supported by facts/theories) natural selector either.
In a comical chapter of the book, Pleistocene Adam, having learned
from African Eve about the flow of time and realizing his own
mortality (which makes him depressed) conceives the idea that his
children are his saviors, the carriers of his "essence" who will
render him immortal. Hence he decides to be more or less monogamous,
help his mate to take care of his sons and daughters, avoid sleeping
with his daughters, and in general happily continue to procreate. If
only evolution was so easily directed by homo sapiens' conscious
(self-aware) thoughts and emotions... And don't even ask about the
"evolutionary" explanation of male pattern baldness, which involves
confusing animals into believing you are not a human (the fiercest
hunter of all) when trying to spy on them (bald head-top emerging
first) behind a boulder while hunting.
My harshest criticism against this book is its lack of objectivity and
its unbridled imagination. Humans have evolved to find patterns in
nature even where there are none and infer causality from every
correlation (be it a true one or one caused by the mutual dependence
of two variables on a third and forth one) and this could easily lead
to wrong inferences.
If you are new to evolution and genes I would recommend Richard
Dawkins (especially "The Selfish Gene" and "The Blind Watchmaker"), or
Matt Ridley's "Genome" and "The Agile Gene" or anything from Stephen
Jay Gould.
Rating:
Summary: evolutionary psychology from a biochemical point of view
Review: Just an amazing book.
I read a lot of science books, but this was truly special.
So many little ideas
1-female sychronizing periods
2- why circumscision ( a very different answer than what you heard previiously
3- why female anemia ( Very diferent from what you heard.) before.)
All tied together into a giant idea.
Can't give it away, but i sure was impressed with the author's catholic knowledge of human evolution.
It was a little wordy but a small price to pay for so many great ideas.
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