"Titillating and provocative essays from one of the freshest voices in science today -- 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? In Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?, the research psychologist and award-winning columnist Jesse Bering features more than thirty of his most popular essays from Scientific American and Slate, as well as two new pieces, that take readers on a bold and captivating journey through some of the most taboo issues related to evolution and human behavior. 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 astutely covers a generous expanse of our kaleidoscope of quirks and origins. 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 are interested in the psychological history behind the many facets of sexual desire or the evolutionary patterns that have dictated our current mystique and phallic physique, Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? is bound to create lively discussion and debate for years to come"--

This book deals with one aspect of the modern, proof, and the deductions to which they give rise, and scientific study of intelligence, namely its measurement. the social aspect, which is concerned with the "good" or The term, measurement, has difficulties attached to it "evil" consequences which follow from the scientific which rival those attached to the term, intelligence; discovery or invention. Thus IQ testing would appear to many psychologists have little idea of what the word many people to give rise to desirable and "good" conse means, and what are the requirements which must be quences when it enables us to pick out bright "dis fulfilled in order to enable "measurement" to take advantaged" children for higher educational and place. Krantz, Luce, Suppes and Tversky (1971) have university training who would otherwise not have been tried to provide us with an introduction to the "Founda educated up to the level of their ability. On the other tions of Measurement"; these two volumes outline the hand, IQ testing would appear to many people to give background against which attempts to measure intelli rise to undesirable and "bad" consequences when it gence must be evaluated. * No short excerpt or set of enables trade unions to exclude coloured workers by the readings could suffice to bring home to the "innum imposition of unrealistic and irrelevant intellectual erate" reader the implications of scientific measurement, requirements for membership.

Gossip is no trivial matter; despite its reputation, Epstein argues, it is an eternal and necessary human enterprise. Proving that he himself is a master of the art, Epstein serves up delightful mini-biographies of the Great Gossips of the Western World, along with many choice bits from his own experience. He also makes a powerful case that gossip has morphed from its old-fashioned best--clever, mocking, a great private pleasure--to a corrosive new-school version, thanks to the reach of the mass media and the Internet. Written in his trademark erudite and witty style, Gossip captures the complexity of this immensely entertaining subject.

Many of us dream of staying as young as possible as long as possible whether we're in our 30s, 40s, 70s or even 80s, and there's a growing Conga line of products and people offering you just that dream. The dilemma is, which of the pills, mental and physical exercise programs, diets and superfoods actually work? Some of them do help to keep us young, healthy and living longer, others may work when the researchers get the potions right and some are a downright waste of money. So how do you know what and who to trust? That's the journey that Dr Norman Swan is going to take you on in So You Want to Live Younger Longer? Deeply researched and written with his trademark wit, common sense and accessibility, Norman brings together what's known, not known, hopeful but not harmful and harmful and not hopeful, summarised with quick takeaway messages backed up by the science and evidence. No matter what your age, So You Want to Live Younger Longer? gives you the information you need to make your own choices without wasting your time and money or even missing a nice dinner because you might be on a diet that is getting you nowhere. Norman disentangles our 'Book of Life' - the genes we're born with and what we subject them to later on - and shows that in the search for youth, genes matter much less than you'd think for most of us. In other words, we can overwrite our personal Book of Life and Norman's book will help you do it. We can live younger, longer - at any age - we've just got to know what to do.