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Rating: 
Summary: High Praise for Sex Smart
Review: "Sex Smart is the book on everything you probably don't know about why you turned out the way you did sexually--and what to do about it." -Arnold Lazarus, Ph.D.; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University; coauthor of Don't Believe It for a Minute! and The Sixty-Second Shrink"Sex Smart is a fine book, dealing with sensitive issues in a forthright and direct manner. I recommend it to my patients." -Abraham Morgentaler, M.D., FACS; Director, Male Infertility and Impotency Program, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School; author of The Male Body "Dr. Zoldbrod explains with clarity the direct effects of parental overcontrol, violence, and emotional withdrawal, which often exist with addiction, on the sexual development of children." -Stefanie Abbott, M.A., National Association for Children of Alcoholics; author of Co-Dependency: a Secondhand Life "Dr. Zoldbrod's model of sexual development is the best one of its kind I've ever seen. This book will be useful not only as a self-help manual, but also as an informative guide for therapists and teachers." -Janet Shibley Hyde, Ph.D.; Professor of Psychology and Evjue-Bascom Professor of Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison; author of Understanding Human Sexuality "Sex Smart is a wonderfully written, clear account of the many factors that shape and influence our sexual selves. Unlike most self-help books which focus on aspects of sexual performance, Dr. Zoldbrod takes a broad, integrative view. With great skill and warmth, she weaves a tapestry of complex non-sexual events in our past that determine the ways in which we relate sexually. Complemented by rich clinical vignettes, her book will be welcomed by those wishing to understand the nuances and mysteries that contribute to our sexual being." -Derek C. Polansky, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; author of Talking About Sex
Rating:
Summary: The perfect title for anyone who's mystified about why they
Review: Hi. I'm Aline Zoldbrod, Ph.D., the author of Sex Smart, a licensed psychologist, and a sex therapist certified by the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. I'm happy to tell you more about my book. If you are mystified about why you turned out the way you did sexually, or how to solve your sexual problems, Sex Smart is for you. Sex Smart is also for you if you are a person who is simply intrigued by sexuality and wants to understand it more deeply. Sex Smart talks about sex in a way that is unlike most other self help books, because it discusses many of the non-sexual aspects of family life which contribute to adult sexuality. How your family touches, and whether or not your parents listened to you and your emotional needs. Whether or not you learned trust. What kind of message your parents gave you about your body. How your parents handled power. What you learned from your parents' relationship to you. Whether there was emotional neglect, alcoholism, or physical violence. What your parents taught you about friendship. Whether you felt you owned your own self or not. These probably aren't aspects of your family life that you think of as being tied to how you feel about yourself as a sexual person now. I have always loved being a sex therapist. Each person's sexual development is so completely unique that figuring out the puzzle of each patient's (or a couple's) sexual problem is always interesting. For many years, I have been thinking about why people turn out so different sexually, why there are so many variations in sexual preferences and sexual pleasures and sexual problems. I did a lot of reading, trying to see if anyone had written a theory of sexual development that explained this phenomenon for me. I couldn't find one. Many of my patients had erotic blocks which completely puzzled them. The other "how-to" books and articles they had read had not explained to them why they had the issues they had and hadn't helped to fix them. The problems themselves weren't unusual--things like lack of desire, difficulty getting aroused, orgasm problems, erection difficulties, premature ejaculation, sexual addictions and compulsions, sexual pain. These are garden variety issues for a sexual therapist to treat. But when I unraveled a number of these people's questions, it turned out that the answer lay in their family experience. And until they were able to understand the deeper events, the behavioral exercises suggested in the other articles and the books they had been reading didn't work. (For instance, a man with erection problems had been negatively affected by seeing his father beat his mother. A woman with sexual pain came from a family where no one ever touched each other affectionately.) My patients thought my explanations made a lot of sense. But people lose a lot of what happens during the therapy siession within a few hours, let alone from one week to the next. They wanted a book to read that would reinforce and amplify what I was saying to them in their sex therapy sessions. But there was no book available I could recommend to them that explained what had happened to them the way I was describing it in the sex therapy sessions. As I treated more and more patients and looked carefully at why people had the sexual difficulties they had, I came up with my own integrated theory of what each of us needs to get in our family-of-origin to be able to enjoy being sexual as an adult. So I wrote Sex Smart, to help people understand that a lot of non-sexual events in family life turn out to profoundly affect how we feel about letting go sexually with another person. Understanding the basis of our sexual difficulties lays the groundwork emotionally. At the end of each chapter, Sex Smart goes on to give exercises to do. I must tell you that it is pretty frightening to come out with your own theory about something and then see what other experts have to say about it. I'm delighted at the response Sex Smart has gotten. More than a dozen of the nation's most famous sex therapists and experts in psychiatry and the addictions have endorsed the book and my ideas about why people turn out the way they do sexually. Sex Smart won Fore Word Magazine's Bronze Award for the Best Self Help Book of 1998. I have also gotten calls from all over the U.S. and Canada from people telling me that this is the first book which explained their sexuality to them, and one which gave them some hpe that they could change things. Sex Smart will be translated into Turkish and Spanish. I hope you read Sex Smart, and that it helps you.
Rating: 
Summary: Adult Sexual Difficulties Begin Early On
Review: SexSmart is a gift to readers who have grown tired, bored and even annoyed by the many "how to" sex books on the market. Dr. Zoldbrod is one of the few professionals who explains where sexual problems begin rather than merely focusing on how to fix them. Sexual problems exist within the context of a relationship and a whole life -- they are not only about bodies and bedrooms. As a Sex and Marital Therapist I can tell you that it is one of the most popular books in my waiting room. Even better, men read it. SexSmart provides information in digestible doses with great graphics and simple exercises that highlight the material. It's a great job!
Rating:
Summary: Adult Sexual Difficulties Begin Early On
Review: SexSmart is a gift to readers who have grown tired, bored and even annoyed by the many "how to" sex books on the market. Dr. Zoldbrod is one of the few professionals who explains where sexual problems begin rather than merely focusing on how to fix them. Sexual problems exist within the context of a relationship and a whole life -- they are not only about bodies and bedrooms. As a Sex and Marital Therapist I can tell you that it is one of the most popular books in my waiting room. Even better, men read it. SexSmart provides information in digestible doses with great graphics and simple exercises that highlight the material. It's a great job!
Rating: 
Summary: This book will help you attain a healthier, happier sex life
Review: This book explains in detail how various parts of your growing up affected your physical, emotional and sexual life. It will help you understand why you turned out the way you are sexually, and provide you with an opportunity to grow if some aspect of your sex life is not completely fulfilling. My only complaint about this book, is that while it offers much in the way of explanations, it offers far less guidance in how to deal with a shortcoming, once you become aware of it. Hence the three stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and accessible
Review: This book takes you through a tour about personal development and the effects on sexuality. Its clear, methodic and with many examples. Good for humanistic counselors and for introspective work as well. College level.
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: This book will help anyone who wants some insight as to why past or present relationships are as difficult as they sometimes are. You may begin reading to find out why your partner is the way he or she is, but you will find a bit here about yourself as well. We all had a "childhood" and most of us did not have perfect role models. We can all benefit from what the author has to say. It's also interesting to apply it to how we have raised our own children.
Rating:
Summary: Useful for everyone
Review: Though it is poorly and unevenly written in spots, I have given this book five stars because it is so very useful and important for nearly everyone and because there is nothing else I am aware of that covers the same subject in this way. ALL therapists, counselors, sex educators, etc., ought to read it for sure, but also all parents and anyone who ever had parents...
Rating:
Summary: Wow! A review by Dr. Marianne Brandon
Review: Wow! was my first reaction when reading Aline Zoldbrod's SexSmart. I am a clinical psychologist and certified sex therapist always in search of good reading material for my clients. SexSmart is tops on my list. On rare occasions I find a book that speaks the truth, dramatically enhancing a reader's understanding of self. If you buy this book, you are about to have this experience. SexSmart isn't just another book on sexuality. SexSmart actually guides people through a personal understanding of who they are sexually - what a gift to readers wanting more for themselves and their sexuality. Readers can use this intensive exploration of how parental and social influences impact sexual expression to increase their current level of sexual satisfaction. It is in fact a book best read several times, as it is so full of great information. This is one of only a few books I keep available to my clients in the waiting room. I applaud Dr. Zoldbrod for a job well done!
Rating:
Summary: Sex Smart Highly Recommended by Certified Sex Therapist
Review: Zoldbrod's *Sex Smart* Reviewed By Kathleen Logan Prince MSW
AASECT Certified Sex Therapist For the vast majority of the young--from six months to eighteen years--sexuality is like a huge, unexplored continent. Each of us KNOWS that this mysterious, exciting, scary world is ours,
belongs to us. We know this from earliest times, when our own bodies--that do not lie--tell us, through powerful feelings and reactions, that there is a wonderfully rewarding world that is part of us. Inexplicably, our parents and important others, with their silence and shrouded denial, discourage us from exploration. The existence of sexuality is not exactly denied, it is treated as unlawful and we are reluctantly presented with the tip of the iceberg. The result of this almost universal attitude is that even many
grown-ups remain uninformed about one of the most influential forces in our lives. Dr. Aline P. Zoldbrod, an informed researcher and therapist in the world of sexuality, has written a marvelous guide to this unexplored world. She describes and explains all the various facts and practices of sexuality and turns this formerly dark continent into a healthy, known, and useful areas of life. Dr. Zoldbrod explores nearly every aspect of sexuality and furnishes questionnaires to help the reader get personally specific about his or her own experiences, to clarify and help understand and deal with them. She explores the spectrum of influences on sexual development from early, loving parenting to neglectful, abusive, and violent behavior. These descriptions are again equipped with detailed questions so the reader can relate to her and his own experience and make use of the suggestions about how to handle the associated feelings. A few chapter headings suggest the inclusiveness of the book: The Touch of Love, The Foundation of Trust, Feeling Good About Your Body, What You Learned About Gender, Feeling Good About Yourself, The Dynamics of Power, Becoming a Social Person, Masturbation and Fantasy, The Changes of Adolescence, The Effects of Physical Violence on Sexuality. This is a book you will read, and as you do, you will say to yourself, " I wish my parents had read this when I was young!" As a couples and sex therapist who sees, every day, the consequences of sexual ignorance, I highly recommend this book. Kathleen Logan-Prince MSW
Marital and Sex Therapist
Weston, Massachusetts
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