Wednesday, 27 October 2010 03:26 pm
Book Review: Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation
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deckardcanineThe author, whose real name is Olivia Judson, may be a biologist first and a writer second, but she knows how to make a set of science essays interesting to an unscientific mind like mine. As you may have guessed from the title, they mostly take the form of an advice column with questions from various animals who don’t know what’s normal for their species or are frustrated by partially inconvenient norms. The last chapter takes another format: a summary of a controversial episode of her fictitious TV talk show.
The animals’ letters provide most of the funniest parts. Example: “I’m an Australian redback spider, and I’m a failure. I said to my darling, ‘Take, eat, this is my body,’ and I vaulted into her jaws. But she spat me out and told me to get lost. Why did she spurn the ultimate sacrifice? —Wretched in the Wilderness.” Dr. Tatiana responds more like Carolyn Hax than Ms. Manners, so there’s still some more entertainment to be had.
Yes, a lot of species routinely behave in ways that no human culture would deem ethical or practical, or else they have bizarre anatomies. Only in one case does Dr. Tatiana have very little idea why a trait has survived as successfully as it has; even then the issue makes a nice frame for tangential points. And you don’t have to believe in macroevolution to appreciate the talk of adaptations. You just need to brace for yourself for lots of surprises, some quite alien and/or disgusting.
Presumably, the doctor is human. There are times when she divagates to an anthropocentric monolog that I doubt the askers and other theoretical readers would value much. I suppose that such a crack in the fourth wall is worthwhile to keep the actual readers attuned to all relevant implications. Besides, not everyone is content without a counterbalance to the talking microbes.
It’s not a must-read, and I got impatient with the length at times, but the book has my recommendation to anyone mature enough for a book on nonhuman sex.
The animals’ letters provide most of the funniest parts. Example: “I’m an Australian redback spider, and I’m a failure. I said to my darling, ‘Take, eat, this is my body,’ and I vaulted into her jaws. But she spat me out and told me to get lost. Why did she spurn the ultimate sacrifice? —Wretched in the Wilderness.” Dr. Tatiana responds more like Carolyn Hax than Ms. Manners, so there’s still some more entertainment to be had.
Yes, a lot of species routinely behave in ways that no human culture would deem ethical or practical, or else they have bizarre anatomies. Only in one case does Dr. Tatiana have very little idea why a trait has survived as successfully as it has; even then the issue makes a nice frame for tangential points. And you don’t have to believe in macroevolution to appreciate the talk of adaptations. You just need to brace for yourself for lots of surprises, some quite alien and/or disgusting.
Presumably, the doctor is human. There are times when she divagates to an anthropocentric monolog that I doubt the askers and other theoretical readers would value much. I suppose that such a crack in the fourth wall is worthwhile to keep the actual readers attuned to all relevant implications. Besides, not everyone is content without a counterbalance to the talking microbes.
It’s not a must-read, and I got impatient with the length at times, but the book has my recommendation to anyone mature enough for a book on nonhuman sex.