A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis

Rating:
Summary: More Than Expected
Review: I had seen this book on Amazon before and by-passed it, thinking that it would be little more than an anthology of dick stories, past and present. Do not make that mistake. This is a well-researched book that investigates the religious, scientific, racial, political and psychological dimensions - pun intended- of the penis throughout Western History, from Ancient Greece to Viagra. On the other hand, do not fret that it is a dry tome;the author presents the material in an entertaining manner with just the right amount of ribaldry. So interesting is the book that I read the entire 300+ pages in two sittings.

Rating:
Summary: A humorous but well-documented history of the penis
Review: It is hard to write a book about the penis without dealing in euphemisms and double entendres. Yet this book uses them well to show the role the penis has played in the development of western culture. The book is a cultural history of the penis, and explores human (mostly men's) thinking about the male reproductive organs.

The first chapter, The Demon Rod, explores the moral view of the penis as it developed from ancient times through Christianized Western European thought. Is the penis a gift of the gods or man's link with the devil? This is the question that is explored in this chapter. From the phallic cults of ancient Sumer, Egypt, Greece and Rome, through the Jewish circumcision pact, to the demonization of the penis by Christian thinkers like Augustine, the role of the penis in the relationship of man to his god is explored.

Chapter Two, The Gear Shift, starts with Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical dissections and examines the early attempts of western science to discover the biological rather than the mythical aspects of the penis. The period covered is the 16th through the 19th century. Most of the science, though well-intentioned, is colored by the moral thinking of the time. Although much is learned, many false theories coexist with newly discovered anatomical facts.

The next chapter is called The Measuring Stick and is a look at the theories surrounding Racism and penis size. It outlines the history of the belief that males of African heritage have greater penile size than any other race. From Noah to Mapplethorp, the fascination and fear associated with this concept and the racial theories that developed along side it are well laid out.

The Cigar is Chapter Four and it explores the influence of the penis on Freud and psychoanalytical thought. Here we move from the physical manifestation of the penis to its effects on the psyche, both in the individual and the culture. With quotes from Freud's writings, we see his development of the theories of the Oedipus Complex and the vaginal orgasm, and their effects on modern society.

Chapter Five, entitled The Battering Ram, is a look at the feminist reaction of the 1960s to the Freudian emphasis on the penis and vaginal orgasm. These feminist thinkers shift the focus to the clitoris as the center of satisfying sexual relationships for women. From Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique to Andrea Dworkin's Pornography, the link between the penis and sexual violence in feminist writings is outlined in wonderful detail.

The final chapter, The Punctureproof Balloon returns to the physiological study of the penis that started in chapter two. However, this chapter picks up with the 19th Century with its quacks and misinformed physicians and takes us up to the present day's modern medical marvels. Here we see urologists taking the study of impotence away from psychoanalysts and developing medical treatments. This is a wonderful historic outline of the creation and cultural impact of Viagra and other pharmaceutical treatments for Erectile Dysfunction.

All in all this is a fascinating popular treatment of a topic that tends to either not be discussed or is discussed so informally as to have little regard for the facts. This book tells it all and backs up the facts with 35 pages of Notes to the bibliographic sources. To help the reader find the facts a 12 page Index ends the book. Eight pages of black and white pictures illustrate some of the topics described in the book. This book is entertaining and informative reading for anyone who has ever wanted to know about this organ and its role in society.

Rating:
Summary: Got Penis?
Review: Ok, those who get squeamish over penis need not apply here. This book is covered in it from cover to cover, and men and women alike will find this an interesting dissection of it. The author gives us a history lesson in the penis from ancient times to the current day erectile dysfunction boom. He focuses quite a bit on Mr. Frued, obviously for the fact that this man was penile fixed and injected his theories right into modern day psychology textbooks. I found the most interesting part regarding the racial penis, as it was a new look at racism in America and abroad.

I was a bit disappointed that the book didn't include much pop culture regarding the penis. However, the areas the author chose to look at were very appropriate and provided new insight on that organ both men and women find fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: Got Penis?
Review: Ok, those who get squeamish over penis need not apply here. This book is covered in it from cover to cover, and men and women alike will find this an interesting dissection of it. The author gives us a history lesson in the penis from ancient times to the current day erectile dysfunction boom. He focuses quite a bit on Mr. Frued, obviously for the fact that this man was penile fixed and injected his theories right into modern day psychology textbooks. I found the most interesting part regarding the racial penis, as it was a new look at racism in America and abroad.

I was a bit disappointed that the book didn't include much pop culture regarding the penis. However, the areas the author chose to look at were very appropriate and provided new insight on that organ both men and women find fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: a wonderful and wonderfully thorough book
Review: The book is entertaining, however if you wish to read this from a scholarly point of view and you have spent ANY time studying the ancient world to any degree...you will be appauled to find that the author of this book simply added his own interpretations to events, biblical texts, and blatantly stretched (pun so intended) the truth on so much. I'd had enough from a research point of view when this guy not onlt spelt the names of gods wrong, but hyped only childish popular perspectives that no closer resemble ancient Sumerian belief than does the golden arches as a phallic symbol. If you take away any claim of being a historical reference, this book is good. It's a tongue and cheek look on the penis and that is about all it does. Totally not serious, but a giggle to be had here and there. Some of which is at the author's expense.

Rating:
Summary: Exhaustive, sometimes exhausting...
Review: The perfrect book for a person jonesing for the complete culutral history of the jock. Well researched and well structured, the book is a comprehisive guide to everything penis. Don't let whimsical chapter titles like "The Demon Rod," "The Gear Shift," and "The Puncture-proof Balloon" fool you; this is a work of great socio-political importance. As man has evolved, so has his relationship with his organ, and to understand him, you must understand his member. David M. Friedman has given you the map towards total penile nirvana.

Rating:
Summary: Intellectually Provocative
Review: This book is a delightful work of journalism, sociology, philosophy and wicked humor, not to mention a very clever intellectual work. I found myself impressed with the scope of Mr. Friedman's research, and also with the skill with which he presents even handed descriptions of 'sensitive' issues. I'm just dying to discuss all the new facts I've learned, but everyone just gives me funny looks when I say something like, "I am Osiris the stiff of penis!" I consider myself to be a femminist, and I think it is the duty of those who profess interest in a better society to learn to see life from another's perspective (or at least to be curious!). This book helped me begin to comprehend the question I always wonder "why are they always so freaking obsessed with it?" and "why would they ever think women would envy something so you can get caught in a zipper?" Go get this book, you won't regret it!

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good!
Review: This elongated book covers how human beings thought of the penis. What some may assume to be a light, caustic treatment requires some background in theology, classical philosophy, church history, Freudian psychology and 20th century feminism. By treating these and other topics Friedman has constructed a book that describes how humans viewed sexuality, especially the role of the penis. At times the penis is considered the source of evil and original sin, at other times man's greatest accomplishment. In almost cyclical ways the penis is reviled and adored. It seems that at least in medical science myths and incredible conclusions stand side by side with revelations that give humans true insight. One wonders if what we know now is as undependable as some of medicine's earlier forays into the study of the penis.

Friedman ends his book in the Age of Viagra, pointing out that there are no long-range studies of men's uses of this drug. Who knows what we may discover about this. Certainly some men have been experiencing heart problems in conjunction with the use of this drug. But what the drug accomplishes is to move a man's relationship to his penis away from being out of control to well within his power to control. And while some feminists see Viagra as a backward step to men understanding that sex is based on relationship, nevertheless many men are finding that their urological problems are not relational.

Friedman makes medical and philosophical matters palpable and readable for many interested in this treatment.

Rating:
Summary: NOT a sex book, a cultural history, as per the title
Review: Though the store had it filed under pornography, this book is not at all pertinent to that smarmiest of genres. It's a cultural summary of the significance of the male genitals around the world and throughout history. Sometimes anthropological, sometimes psychological, sometimes medical (perhaps to a fault), and often exhibiting wry humor, the book is modest in scope and level of analysis, and certainly a good read.
My personal interests, as an anthropologist, were the sections which discuss the ancient and religious history of the genitals, up through the Middle Ages and into the well-meaning pseudo-science of the nineteenth century. Not so engrossing, I thought, are the later chapters. "The Measuring Stick" goes a bit too far and graphically into homosexual fantasy, and the last chapter was a downright disappointment, as its discussion of modern views on the male genitals becomes a scientific tract on testicular surgery with way too many medical details and terminology.
In the end, the book begins well, ends not so well, and in my opinion, is well-written enough throughout that it remains for the most part pleasing.