The Male Brain

5 Responses to “The Male Brain”

1. Enjay says:

   March 30, 2010 at 2:36 am

   The book tries to help show us how male brains differ from female brains to clarify behaviors. The leader tries to demonstrate how actual structures, neurology and compound differences make males male. I am not a neurologist or behaviorist, but a layperson, but still felt many of the parts were both too scientific, but also overly simplistic. It would read something like “just like a roller coaster, when a male experiences this input, compound XYZ affects structure ABC and causes the male to react in such and such manner like the coaster going down the hill.” It was like they tried to mix too much analogy with science. I realize that they wanted to make it more accessible, but left out any of the real science (except for some vocabulary.) Also, there was very small mentioned about the effect of learned experiences, personality differences, etc. As if all males have the same exact result to the same stimuli based on physiology alone. They may have a similar make-up anatomically, but it seems too generalized to not mention that there are a range of “normal” male-centric responses within the male population. I know the viewpoint is from a physical (not behavioral) standpoint, but to not mention any sort of effects from conditioning or learned experiences, it just seems forgotten or too much from a singular view.

   The book was arranged by age…young boys, adolescent, etc. I liked the structure. One thing that especially stood out to me was when the leader described clients in order to give examples. They were all described as physically attractive! The women and men were permanently described as fit, charming, petite, slender, excellent figure, gorgeous, etc. Is this necessary? Do the unattractive people not warrant being used as examples!?

   The book is also very fleeting. I thought I was only middle through, when I realized the second HALF of the book was only end notes and references (seriously, 130 pages of text and 126 pages of notes and references?) It sort of seemed more suited to something you would read as a feature in a women’s magazine (just toss in some extra tales to make it long enough for a book.)

   Overall, I liked the theme. I reflect the leader is knowledgeable, but somehow the book got lost in trying to target the some audience. I wanted to see more detailed explanations of all the research done and conclusions drawn, with more attention to the physiology it was trying to reveal. I would rather see analysis of the research, and have included some case studies to illustrate findings, rather than a few tales of people with some science thrown in quickly here and there.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
2. Learning New Ways says:

   March 30, 2010 at 5:26 am

   I have read a number of excerpts of this book, although not the whole book yet, and so far I am disappointed, just as I was in “The Female Brain”, at how the leader acknowledges that male and female brains are much more alike than different but then proceeds to write a whole book all ears on the differences lacking reminding the reader of the common ground AND presents this material in a self-righteous fashion lacking acknowledging that socialization plays a role; I do not know any credible biologist or sociobiologist who does not acknowledge the role of socialization or nurture. I also do not respect scientists who present their material as the absolute right answer. This is nearly as terrible as self-righteous religious people who are still maintaining that the universe was made in 7 days.

   One item not from the book that I would point out about girls’ math and problem-solving ability: “Among mathematically precocious youth — sixth and seventh graders who score more than 700 on the math SAT — 30 years ago boys outnumbered girls 13 to 1, but only about 3 to 1 now.”(1) I reflect one possible explanation for this is that socialization has played a huge role in this alleged greater problem-solving or analytical behavior by boys and men, and now that girls can finally study in safety (and regularly with the support of fathers, who do not spectacle the obsession with hierarchy that the leader outlines) and take reliable roles in public life, we are seeing what girls are really made of.

   I suggest perhaps the leader needs to bone up on her own problem-solving and analytical skills? Oh wait, by her view, she is a female and second-rate at this. Eeech. Tell this to these math sensation girls mentioned above and to Nancy Pelosi who just did some hard math and problem-solving skills to pull off a legislative leadership feat none of her male predecessors did in passing health care reform (regardless of whether you support or have issues with the reform, you have to agree that it was an impressive feat of legislative leadership, no?).

   The neuroscientist Lise Eliot, who is younger than Louann Brinzendine (perhaps she has more Gen-X equanimity about these issues as well as the benefit of not having had to go through what earlier feminists did) has written a book called Pink Brain, Blue Brain, which I reflect gives these issues much more sophisticated treatment.

   I would also recommend to readers Michael Kimmel’s book, “The Gender of Desire,” which describes how masculinity has traditionally been socially constructed, and how it is changing. Much of the alleged male inclination for moving to problem-solving before processing the emotional content of the issue at hand really makes them more vulnerable as they, ironically, are then missing information they need to solve the problem or make a choice. And, anyway, I suspect we all know men who have been fortunate enough to have their emotional life protected in their upbringing and who are able to function better as adults. Michael Thompson’s book, “Raising Cain” discusses this.

   I am appalled that Dr. Brizendine calls herself a “feminist” but promotes this type of behavior in men. Two central aspects of feminism’s effect on men that I see are (a) getting men out of thinking they have to “win” all the time and be distant with status in order to get women, (b) getting men access to their emotions so they can use them for more satisfying and productive lives. As many men have learned, feminism offers them reasonably a lot, including the ability to use their emotional intelligence, better quality relationships with children, more consensual sex.

   As Professor Mark Liberman has noted on his website, Dr. Brizendine is part of a group of folks who seek to profit on this need many people have to see conflict and difference between the sexes. Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus was similar and Leonard Sax’s books about boys do this as well. Liberman says “There certainly are psychological and neurological differences between men and women, sometimes huge ones. But even when they aren’t promoting their thoughts on the basis of “facts” that are rumor has it that fake, authors like Sax and Brizendine use a set of rhetorical tricks that tend to make sex differences seem larger and more consequential than they really are. You can do it too, if you want — just choose phenomena that emphasize differences, leaving out the ones where the sexes are more similar; pick studies that find stereotypic differences, leaving out the ones whose results disagree; and in all cases, talk and write as if (even relatively tiny) differences in group averages were essential characteristics of every member of each group.”

   I really loathe people who seek to foment conflict in our society, particularly as we struggle with so much polarization in our political system, our culture, and in many families (although as Michael Kimmel points out, there is a trend toward in excellent health, more egalitarian, less stereotyped families).

   (1) See “Bias Called Persistent Hurdle for Women in Sciences” New York Times, March 21, 2010. [...].
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
3. Susan Y. Schoonover says:

   March 30, 2010 at 6:43 am

   I really like the clever take in art of this new book (a man’s brain being depicted as made of duct type – purportedly the male’s favorite material for “fitting” things). But I didn’t find the contents of this slender book to reveal anything particularly extraordinary. I reflect it is pretty much all-purpose knowledge that men are thought to be more motivated by sex than women, are regularly more competitive and less emotional than females and boys going through puberty can be major pains probably because of the huge influx of testosterone. Even if I hadn’t known that leader Brizendine had won fame for her book THE FEMALE BRAIN I would have been suspicious that as a psychiatrists her practice has mostly all ears on females. In fact most of the male case studies she discusses are of men she met in tie with a woman in their life who was her uncomplaining. She includes lots of information about her own spouse and son as well. The book is simple to read and decently written but the actual content is a scant 130 pages. The additional 132 pages are made of a brief epilogue and appendix, some lengthy notes and a full 82 pages of references. I suppose I should be impressed by the references and notes but somehow was left with the feeling this was just a quick book to follow up on the success of her bestseller THE FEMALE BRAIN which admittedly I have not read.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
4. Heidi Anne Heiner says:

   March 30, 2010 at 8:11 am

   Okay, so this isn’t my usual type of reading fare, but I thought it would make for appealing discussions. This is pop culture psychology and don’t mistake it as anything else. Sure, there are studies and thoughts, but they are anecdotal more than proving anything of worth about an entire gender. Yes, some bits rang right, also, but nothing was revelatory either. And, perhaps I have unusual men in my life, but much of the theory just didn’t hold right for the ones I know intimately, although I could apply much to some of my more casual acquaintances. When I read some excerpts to my father, he snorted in disgust, for example. After all, I learned not to make as many sweeping assumptions about genders from him. Then my spouse came along and took care of more of that for me.

   So read for entertainment if this interests you, but take it all with a shakerful of salt. You might gain some insight from it, but you’ll get more by sharing and discussing it with the men in your life.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
5. John Deurbrouck says:

   March 30, 2010 at 10:56 am

   I bought this book because the topic is appealing. The leader relies far too much on anecdotes about two children, from whom she extrapolates behaviors for all males. Cited studies are open in insufficient detail, and there is small written about alternative viewpoints. Still, the erudition is reasonably believable and the writing serviceable.

   The Kindle presentation is atrocious. Two faults ruin the Kindle version of this book.

   First is the inclusion of a number of graphic facts which are entirely illegible on the Kindle 2. These facts are loaded with text not duplicated elsewhere in the book so you’re missing real content.

   The second fault is the seemingly random underlining of various phrases throughout the book. Ever buy a used textbook whose previous owner seems not to have understood the theme at hand? Most paragraphs have several randomly underlined phrases which are, at their least forward, distracting. In many cases the underlined parts really make it harder to know the concept of the paragraph, like listening to a speaker who shouts every word containing the letter L. These do function as links to explanatory detail, but why not do them as footnotes like everyone else? They seriously block reading the text.

   If you’re considering purchasing this title, I fervently recommend reading the sample first. If I had, I’d have saved myself the $10.

   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5