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Jul 19, 2022
Petra lives on a little Caribbean island
is currently reading it
RTC, but briefly, the book has an overall agenda to prove that females (or 'the egg-bearing parent' as the author would prefer) can do everything males can do in the animal kingdom - lead, be aggressive, have promiscuous sex, rip other animals apart etc. This succeeds, and the science is excellent but the thesis got wearisome in parts. How to rate it is difficult. At times it was a 10 star, really relevatory, at other times a 2 star, and I'm like ok, you don't have to push the feminist, anti-unr
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Dec 11, 2022
Paul Perry
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
female-author,
science,
non-fiction,
british-author,
read-in-2022,
biology,
evolution,
culture
An excellent dive into why biological sex is less binary and straight-forward than we are usually taught, across the animal kingdom. From the (to me) startling revelation that the XX-XY sex determination we are shown in school biology is far from a universal, to overviews of many species that do not conform to the "normal" male-female binary or even change sex, one way or repeatedly.
Cooke also keeps returning to address the fact that science, rather than being simply a collection of incontrovert ...more
Cooke also keeps returning to address the fact that science, rather than being simply a collection of incontrovert ...more

3.5 stars rounded up. An informative look at the fascinating and unexpected roles and functions of biologically female non-human animals, from fellow primates, to other mammals, to fish, to insects. This is a very information-dense book, with the Kindle Ebook abundant with hyperlinked references. At times it read like a textbook, though Cooke's central thesis (that we shouldn't accept the antiquated prejudice that female organisms are less interesting/nuanced/important than males of their specie
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This is the epitome of amazing science reads for me- cool anatomy, humor, random awesome facts to share with your friends, and a real look at bias and truth in science. This was one of my science book club books this month. I absolutely loved it. (Did you know female opossums have two ovaries, two uteri, two services, and two vaginas, what's more, they have a third temporary vagina that shows up simply to give birth and then closes up again? Fascinating!)
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Apr 13, 2022
Krystal
marked it as to-read

Jun 12, 2022
Betty
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Jul 01, 2022
Nicola
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Jul 20, 2022
peg
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Dec 21, 2022
Karigan
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Dec 26, 2022
Adam Hallihan
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Mar 27, 2023
Franziska Koeppen
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Apr 22, 2023
Nea
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Jul 23, 2024
Gabrielle
marked it as to-read