In the Introduction, Louann Brizendine, the NY Times bestselling writer of The Female Brain, said as she “considered writing The Male Brain, nearly everyone I consulted made the same joke: ‘That will be a short book! Maybe a pamphlet.’”
Oddly, I Twittered yesterday that I was reading the book, and a writer friend emailed me and asked if the book would be good to have when developing male characters. I replied that I was about 1/3 of the way through and “so far it pretty much says that everything we think about men is true. They do think about sex all the time and they don’t listen to us.”
The book is very readable as Brizendine goes through the different stages of the male brain, from birth to the older male. The area of sexual pursuit in the men’s brain is 2 1/2 times bigger than in female. The “defend-your-turf” area is much also larger. They express their empathy by trying to fix things. Brizendine uses examples from her psychiatric practice, friends, and her own life.
Though I learned a few things, not much surprised me. The people who joked to the author that it would be a pamphlet weren’t that far out. The text is only 136 pages, with notes, references, and the index running another 135 pages. So for my writer friend who asked if it would be helpful for developing male characters, I’d have to say no. The front of the book claims that this is “A BREAKTHROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF HOW MEN AND BOYS THINK.” Not really, not for me, though someone else might feel different.
Edie,
I found Deborah Tannen’s work very helpful in her dissection of how men and women listen and use language differently. She’s done at least two books which I’ve kept as references. I first discovered them when I was preparing lectures for an Oral/Interpersonal Communications class. Though I might refer to her work now, I do agree with your statement; “We know it all already.”
Unless you’ve not interacted with males much, we women pretty quickly can figure them out.
I’ll check out Deborah Tannen’s book. About 6 years ago, I read a book about the differences between men and women. It was amusing because it was so true. I can’t remember the title or the authors, but again, it wasn’t a must-read book for me.
Thanks for the review, Edie! These kinds of books always interest me, but I appreciate knowing that it didn’t offer much new information for you. Would love a “breakthrough understanding” of why my husband and son don’t feel as though they need to put their dishes in the dishwasher, though. If you come across that book…
Ha! Good luck with that, Marilyn!