This got repetitive after a while, but it made a lot of sense to me. Now if I had only known about some of these hormones and their effect on me when I was younger....
There was one thing I took umbrage at. The author writes that girls are born to nurture and told a story of a child who was given a truck as a gift. She played with it, and one day her mother saw her cradling it in her arms like a baby and cooing to it. Now, I personally think that if you don't have that desire to have kids, no amount of hormones are going to make you want to cradle a truck and sing to it like a baby. What about transgender people, etc? I was disappointed that the author would paint women with such a broad brush.
Needless to say, I skipped right over the chapter entitled "The Mommy Brain".
That being said, this was a quick read that didn't tax my brain at all, and I did learn a few things. ( )

"In writing this book I have struggled with two voices in my head—one is the scientific truth, the other is political correctness. I have chosen to emphasize scientific truth over political correctness even though scientific truths may not always be welcome."

She knew what was coming.


The Female Brain and The Male Brain by the same authors do a good job describing the basic differences in the male and female brain, and how these differences explain some (stereotyped) behaviors. ( )

I read some of the reviews before starting this book, and I fail to see how it’s sexist. I do see how so many people put it down, because even though it’s written in a reader friendly way, the material is a bit dry in places, but I found it both interesting and enjoyable. The author does not in any way imply that women are victims of their hormones, or condone using the constant fluctuations and instability as an excuse. She simply informs the reader what a woman’s physiology is undergoing at different stages in life, and common side effects these women experience mentally, emotionally and physically. I feel like I gained a better understanding of myself – both past behaviors and present, and look forward to approaching the rest of life’s stages armed with the knowledge I gained from this book. I would recommend it to both men and women. ( )

An interesting read about human development from a neurological perspective. This one speak particularly about the effects of hormones has on the female body from birth to old age. It help put some things in perspective, although it is rather general, since it is based on research and it necessarily flattens nuance, nevertheless, it was helpful to read. Check it out. ( )

A narrative in the chemical underpinnings of biological determinism. Major complaint: she uses endnotes instead of footnotes, so it's difficult to find the data behind he story. ( )

I stopped reading this book on page 68.

It's amazing I made it that far. Part of me thinks I should finish the book because I should know what is inside. People not only like to come to me for gender advice, but also test my boundaries on "gender roles." A friend loaned me this book, I believe as a way to see what my expert opinion of it would be. I have no idea how she feels about it.

It frightens me to think this was a NY Times Best Seller. Oh, the masses who read this and loved it!

You know what made me finally put this book down?

*It wasn't her pointing out that female and male brains work in different ways.
*It wasn't her stating on page 8 that a female engineer quit her work to be in a more people-oriented career, thus giving more credibility to the idea that engineers don't work with people or for people.
*It wasn't even when she dug up the old "I gave my daughter a truck and she treated it like a baby" cliché.
*It was almost when she says men look for visual clues (plump lips, smooth skin) to ensure fertility when looking for women to date.

It was her slut shaming.

In the chapter about how the female brain works in the areas of love and trust, she states: (Warning, put that cup down and swallow that bite)

"Social reputation is often a factor in male assessment, since the most reproductively successful males also need to pick women who will mate only with them. Men want to ensure their paternity but also to be able to count on a woman's mothers skills to make sure that their offspring thrive. If Melissa had immediately gone to bed with Rob or showed off to him about all the guys she has had, his Stone Age brain might have judged that she would be unfaithful or had a bad reputation."

Go ahead, read that passage again. Yes, you read it correctly. Cave men don't want slutty women to hook up with.

There's a lot of research in here and a lot of medical terms that aren't clearly explained. But from all the things on gender that I have learned from reading outside and inside the classroom and the science background I have, I have to say that this person takes facts and uses a huge rubber band to tie it to normative behavior.

Instead of this book, pick up Pink Brain, Blue Brain. Sure it's 2-3 times longer, but it doesn't traffic in stereotypes and certainly believes that we have evolved from the Stone Age.

A reader suggested Cordelia Fine's "Delusion of Gender" as another alternative to "The Female Brain." http://www.cordeliafine.com/delusions_of_gender.html

Have other suggestions? Keep them coming!

While this book provides a great deal of insight into the innate female brain, it does take a strictly nature (as opposed to nurture) point of view on the topic. Only in the appendix does Brizendine acknowledge that environmental affects influence the wiring of the brain. Her accounts are based on her patients, research, and hormonal effects. While I found this book to be very informative and a good way to quantify effects that are commonly seen, I do not believe it should be used as a Bible for women's emotions and actions. It's important to remember that every person is different, even though women go through very similar experiences in their lives, each woman is going to handle the situation differently. Brizendine does not do a very good job of exemplifying this and that's one of the reasons I found this book difficult to get through.

The other challenge I faced with getting through this book was the presentation of material. It's very chatty and whenever something "more complicated" is mentioned, she throws it in numerous times within a page or two. While that's a very nice way to get a point to stick, it makes unimportant points seem more important if you knew what she meant the first time.

Warning: It is a difficult book to get through regardless of who you are (male or female) and what your personal experiences are. At some point, something you read is going to have no relevance to your life and you're going to question it's validity. ( )

Guys: Do you want to know what makes us women tick? Read this. And yes, as a woman, I learned a lot. Articulate and insightful. ( )

A layman's discussion of the differences between the female and male brains, with focus on the female. The author discusses the aspects of the woman's brain as a baby, teenager, mother and mature woman, as well as the emotional and sexual aspects.

Very informative book, especially the chapter "Teen Girl Brain." ( )

There's a bit too much overlap between the companion books "The Female Brain" and "The Male Brain." But bearing in mind that correlation is not causation, that there's almost infinite individual variability between human beings that the generalizations in this book tend to obscure, and that as a Registered Nurse I have some of my own pet theories based on more than 20 years' experience...this is a decent little review of basic applied and theoretical neuropsychology. Should be useful as a springboard for more detailed research by non-specialists such as novelists, who would be well-advised to ensure that their efforts at character development don't remain in the "cardboard" range. ( )

I heard her on the radio, and judging from that as well as the reviews by reputable linguists and behavioral psychologists, this sounds like a whole lot of unsubstantiated, stereotypical, feel-good, self-helpy rubbish.

Ms. Brizendine's book explaining the role hormones play in female brain development and functioning was interesting. Written primarily towards a female audience, she helps make explicable some of the most contradictory behaviors women exhibit. Her examples definitely illustrated her points, but felt exaggerated at times. Overall, this books adds valuable information to the understanding we have of how the brain functions and specifically how it functions in women over the course of their lives. ( )

See my review at my blog:

http://hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com/2010/03/girl-thoughts.html ( )

If you are looking for a scientific treatise, move on. This author offers a popular overview, strictly for the general reader, informed as much by personal anecdotal experience as by her background as a psychiatrist and scientist. If you are that general reader and you are not terribly troubled by circular logic and astounding leaps of conclusion, you will enjoy this readable introduction to the influence of hormones on behavior and brain structure.

I dunno. This just didn't grab me like I thought it would. So much of what the author writes about is really self-evident, although I suppose she backs up her "findings" with a certain amount of science. I suppose this book could be used as a resource when attempting to explain to a new dad why the mother of his child suddenly seems way more interested in the child than HIM. Whatever works. Still, I found this book more than slightly condescending, and frankly irritating.

Must be my hormones. ( )

Ehh... I would recommend looking into a thorough review of this book. There is a brief one a reader submitted on amazon. This seems like a great book, aha! A neurological basis for women's empowerment! Yes! ......no :(

One of those unfortunate titles that takes the attitude that modern, liberated women can and will take pride in the aprons they wear. And backed by an MD. I must defer to the experts because it feels weird challenging a doctor's knowledge of neurology, but from what I understand her explanations are simply wrong. There are two old-school views the doctor seems to rely on- 1) the brain is compartmentalized by function, and 2) size determines capacity. So this shrinks in the man's brain and expands in the female's brain and voila, gender differences. Both views on the brain have been improved by neurology. Radically improved. Remember the days when we knew men were smarter than women because their brains were larger on average?

Moreover her citations are shoddy. More than one scientist has come out asking what the connection was between their study and her claims. e.g. inferences drawn about humans from a study on mice, and a citation of Allan Pease, the body language 'expert'? She has, for example, been called out on the figures about speech in the inside cover that she reportedly will be keeping out of future editions. I believe her views on gender differences came first and her supporting evidence came second.

Read Nature's critique of it.

I guess my final word would be PLEASE DO NOT define yourself by your gender. Be wary of kiddy oversimplifications in explaining away human behavior. Women, girls, you are not a hopeless byproduct of hormones and an enlarged communication lobe. Men, likewise. ( )

Very interesting book that helps to explain a lot about why women are biologically (hormonally) the way we are. ( )

This is an interesting book, but it suffers from a few serious issues:

* It’s definitively a sexist book. Some section clearly offend the male sensitivity (Yes dear Louann, males can have some sensitivity!). The author describes male sexuality as a “simple hydraulic device” (may be she simply met the wrong men).

* The author promotes a mechanistic and simplistic view of the human brain. She doesn't really believe in neuroplasticity, preferring the old school localizationist. Whatever is your problem, a few hormones and the usual antidepressant pills can fix it. IMHO humans should not viewed as a simple chemical device, I believe we are slightly more complex...

* The author use of evolution and human history to sustain her theories is very poor. She describes all sort of silly theories based on the evolution of the human and female brain assuming that human life has always been the same as today. Sorry Louann, our ancestors didn't go shopping, they didn't live in suburbia, neither they became grandparents at 50 (the average life was 30-35!).

* Despite the ridiculously long appendix with over 60 pages of bibliographical references, many of her statements are unsubstantiated, poorly documented, and lacking references. She offers her opinions as facts, with an excessive self-confident attitude. A more soft approach and more open mind would have made this book much more enjoyable.

Despite those limitations the book is a very rich source of information, ideas. ( )

You know how men are always complaining that they don't understand women? Or that they wish someone would write a book about how to understand them?

The Female Brain sets out to explain why women do what they do from infancy to menopause. It explains the hormonal changes behind and biological reasons for some of the great mysteries of women, like why women like to go to the bathroom together. The female brain is also compared to the male brain, so hormonal changes in men and their behavior is also discussed.

This is one book I'd recommend to everyone. It's useful if you have kids, or ever plan on having kids, or if you are in a relationship, or ever plan on being in one. I've learned a lot about myself and people around me, thanks to The Female Brain.

It's incredibly readable. It's put into language everyone can understand with plenty of relatable real life examples to keep the text flowing.

Just keep in mind one important point the author things up - while The Female Brain makes sense and explains much, no one is controlled completely by hormones. They influence us but they don't control us. ( )

The book sounded like a xenobiology text more than one about women. At times I thought Brizendine was describing an alien species rather than the gender opposite my own. Still, it was an interesting read. ( )

Interesting information, though not completely accurate. Gets you thinking, but make sure that you really think about it afterwards, rather than taking it as the gospel truth. ( )

Should be compulsory reading for every woman. Suddenly I understand myself so much more clearly, I'm not so strange it's all the fault of my silly hormone soaked brain! No wonder.. ( )

A good book for women to understand what their bodies go through--and for their men to understand what it's like to be a woman...with any luck. ( )

I picked up this book after perusing the reviews and was definately not disappointed. If you are a woman, know a woman, or want to know a woman, then pick up this book and read it...cover to cover. For women, it will be a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment. For those who know women, it will shed some light on our daily struggles and "mood swings". For those who want to know a woman, this book will reveal us in all our complexity, simplicity, strength, and weakness. I can't give it enough stars!!! ( )