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  • Published: 19 July 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448111381
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?




Everything you ever wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask. Literally.

Why do testicles hang the way they do? Is there an adaptive function to the female orgasm? What does it feel like to want to kill yourself? Does ‘free will’ really exist? And why is the penis shaped like that anyway?

Research psychologist and award-winning columnist Jesse Bering takes readers on a bold and captivating journey through some of the most taboo issues related to evolution and human behaviour. Exploring the history of cannibalism, the neurology of people who are sexually attracted to animals, the evolution of human body fluids, the science of homosexuality and serious questions about life and death, Bering boldly goes where no science writer has gone before.

With his characteristic irreverence and trademark cheekiness, Bering leaves no topic unturned or curiosity unexamined, and he does it all with an audaciously original voice. Whether you’re interested in the psychological history behind the many facets of sexual desire or the evolutionary patterns that have dictated our current phallic physique, Why Is The Penis Shaped Like That? is bound to create lively discussion and debate for years to come.

  • Published: 19 July 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448111381
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

About the author

Jesse Bering

Jesse Bering is an award-winning science writer specializing in evolutionary psychology and human behavior. His ‘Bering in Mind’ column at Scientific American was named a 2010 Webby Award Honoree by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. His previous books are, The Belief Instinct whichwas included in the American Library Association’s Top 25 Books of the Year.This was followed by a collection of his previously published essays, Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? and Perv , a taboo-shattering work igniting discussion and fierce debates, named as a New YorkTimes Editor’s Choice.
A developmental psychologist by training, Bering is a renowned expert in the field ofcognitive science and religion, He began his career at the University of Arkansas, as an Assistant Professor of Psychology from 2002 to 2006. He then served as the Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen’s University, Belfast until 2011. Presently, he is an Associate Professor of Science Communication at the University of Otago, New Zealand.

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Praise for Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?

Jesse Bering is the Hunter Thompson of science writing, and he is a delight to read - funny, smart, and madly provocative

Professor Paul Bloom, Yale University

If David Sedaris were an experimental psychologist, he'd be writing essays very much like these. Bering's unique blend of scientific knowledge, sense of humor, intellectual courage, and pure literary skill is immediately recognizable; no one writes quite the way Bering does. Read this book. You'll learn, laugh, and then learn some more.

Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn

His writing is witty, crammed with pop-culture references, and he employs examples and analogies that make his arguments seem like common sense rather than the hard-earned scientific insights they really are.

New Scientist

Uses science to unsettle our most embedded assumptions. It is deeply thought-provoking.

Sunday Times

This is the kind of fact that brightens any dinner party, and Bering delivers it with exuberance. His style is heavy on rhetorical flourishes, facetious asides and cheap puns, but it is always worth the ride.

Telegraph

Bering has an uncanny way with words, an incisive capacity for logical thinking, and a stunning talent for breathing new life and enthusiasm into science.

Gordon Gallup

Jesse Bering is the intellectual spawn of Helen Fisher and Oliver Sacks, and Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? is brainy, informative, compassionate - and hilariously naughty.

Amy Dickinson