Down to Earth: Busting the Myths of Mars and Venus blasts the lid off the myths of gender roles and stereotypes, and the damage they do to people and our planet. The book also offers strategies for changing the lives of women and men, girls and boys, for the better. Veronica Schwarz tells it like it is, with blistering clarity, anecdotes, statistics and humor, highlighting the points with her own illustrations. Busting The Myths of Mars and Venus is the result of ten years of research in fields ranging from anthropology to sociology, history to literature, folklore to psychology, medicine and neuroscience, myth, philosophy and religion. It offers you, the reader, an unforgettable experience and can change your life. Once you see it, you will never unsee it.
“Beliefs about men and women are as old as humanity itself, but Fine’s funny, spiky book gives reason to hope that we’ve heard Testosterone rex’s last roar.” —Annie Murphy Paul, New York Times Book Review Many people believe that, at its core, biological sex is a fundamental force in human development. According to this false-yet-familiar story, the divisions between men and women are in nature alone and not part of culture. Drawing on evolutionary science, psychology, neuroscience, endocrinology, and philosophy, Testosterone Rex disproves this ingrained myth and calls for a more equal society based on both sexes’ full human potential.
A compelling takedown of prevailing myths about human behavior, updated and expanded to meet the current moment. There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are wholly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Agustín Fuentes tackles misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for humans, and incorporates an accessible understanding of culture, genetics, and evolution that requires us to dispose of notions of "nature or nurture." Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields, including anthropology, biology, and psychology, Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy, sex, and gender. This revised and expanded edition provides up-to-date references, data, and analyses, and addresses new topics, including the popularity of home DNA testing kits and the lies behind ‘"incel" culture; the resurgence of racist, nativist thinking and the internet's influence in promoting bad science; and a broader understanding of the diversity of sex and gender.
Popular assumptions about gender and communication - famously summed up in the title of the massively influential 1992 bestseller Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus - can have unforeseen but far-reaching consequences in many spheres of life, from attitudes to the phenomenon of 'date-rape' to expectations of achievement at school, and potential discrimination in the work-place. In this wide-ranging and thoroughly readable book, Deborah Cameron, Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication at Oxford University and author of a number of leading texts in the field of language and gender studies, draws on over 30 years of scientific research to explain what we really know and to demonstrate how this is often very different from the accounts we are familiar with from recent popular writing. Ambitious in scope and exceptionally accessible, The Myth of Mars and Venus tells it like it is: widely accepted attitudes from the past and from other cultures are at heart related to assumptions about language and the place of men and women in society; and there is as much similarity and variation within each gender as between men and women, often associated with social roles and relationships. The author goes on to consider the influence of Darwinian theories of natural selection and the notion that girls and boys are socialized during childhood into different ways of using language, before addressing problems of 'miscommunication' surrounding, for example, sex and consent to sex, and women's relative lack of success in work and politics. Arguing that what linguistic differences there are between men and women are driven by the need to construct and project personal meaning and identity, Cameron concludes that we have an urgent need to think about gender in more complex ways than the prevailing myths and stereotypes allow. A compelling and insightful read for anyone with an interest in communication, language, and the sexes.
WINNER OF THE 2017 ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE What the judges said: 'Every man and woman should read this book on gender bias ... an important, yet wickedly witty, book.' 'Fine's entertaining and thoughtful book is a valuable addition to the discussion about gender.' Ian Critchley, Sunday Times 'In addition to being hopeful, Fine is also angry. We should all be angry. Testosterone Rex is a debunking rumble that ought to inspire a roar.' Guardian 'A densely packed, spirited book, with an unusual combination of academic rigour and readability ... The expression “essential reading for everyone” is usually untrue as well as a cliché, but if there were a book deserving of that description this might just be it.' Antonia Macaro, Financial Times Testosterone Rex is the powerful myth that squashes hopes of sex equality by telling us that men and women have evolved different natures. Fixed in an ancestral past that rewarded competitive men and caring women, these differences are supposedly re-created in each generation by sex hormones and male and female brains. Testosterone, so we’re told, is the very essence of masculinity, and biological sex is a fundamental force in our development. Not so, says psychologist Cordelia Fine, who shows, with wit and panache, that sex doesn’t create male and female natures. Instead, sex, hormones, culture and evolution work together in ways that make past and present gender dynamics only a serving suggestion for the future – not a recipe. Testosterone Rex brings together evolutionary science, psychology, neuroscience and social history to move beyond old ‘nature versus nurture’ debates, and to explain why it’s time to unmake the tyrannical myth of Testosterone Rex. For fans of Fine – whose Delusions of Gender ‘could have far-reaching consequences as significant as The Female Eunuch’ (Viv Groskop, Guardian) – and thousands of new readers, this is an upbeat, timely and important contribution to the debate about gender in society.
"Provides a comprehensive introduction to this important genre, exploring such subjects as the role of the mythological images in everyday life of the time, the messages they convey about the Romans' view of themselves, and the reception of the sarcophagi in later European art and art history."--Publisher's website
50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology uses popular myths as a vehicle for helping students and laypersons to distinguish science from pseudoscience. Uses common myths as a vehicle for exploring how to distinguish factual from fictional claims in popular psychology Explores topics that readers will relate to, but often misunderstand, such as 'opposites attract', 'people use only 10% of their brains', and 'handwriting reveals your personality' Provides a 'mythbusting kit' for evaluating folk psychology claims in everyday life Teaches essential critical thinking skills through detailed discussions of each myth Includes over 200 additional psychological myths for readers to explore Contains an Appendix of useful Web Sites for examining psychological myths Features a postscript of remarkable psychological findings that sound like myths but that are true Engaging and accessible writing style that appeals to students and lay readers alike
Top tips for space travellers! Get to know the inner planets of your solar system in this up-close tour of key cosmic destinations. The Space Traveller's Guide: Earth and the Inner Planets is a personal tour of our unique planet, Earth, the three other rocky planets closest to the Sun - Mercury, Venus and Mars - plus a pit-stop in the asteroid belt and our amazing Moon! Learn the unmissable formations at each location, from the Amazon rainforest on Earth to the winding channels through Mars' desert known as gorgonum chaos. Includes 'Traveller's Tips' for surviving extreme conditions in each spot, and don't miss the real-life tour photos at the back! The Space Traveller's Guide series is the perfect one-stop-shop for space lovers, brought to you by expert astronomy and physics author Giles Sparrow. With all the astounding facts to inspire young space-travel hopefuls, plus humorous cartoons to draw them through the pages. Presenting key science learning in an accessible format for readers aged 9 and up. Contents list, Earth and the Inner Planets: The local neighbourhood / Mercury / Venus / Earth / Extreme Earth / The living planet / The Moon / Cratered surface / Mars / The Martian landscape / Martian weather / The asteroid belt / Tour snapshots / Glossary / Resources / Index The series includes: Earth and the Inner Planets, The Outer Planets, The Sun and Stars and Space Exploration
There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are truly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. In an engaging and wide-ranging narrative, Agustín Fuentes counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Tackling misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for humans, Fuentes incorporates an accessible understanding of culture, genetics, and evolution, requiring us to dispose of notions of “nature or nurture.” Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields—including anthropology, biology, and psychology—Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy and differences between the sexes. A final chapter plus an appendix provide a set of take-home points on how readers can myth-bust on their own. Accessible, compelling, and original, this book is a rich and nuanced account of how nature, culture, experience, and choice interact to influence human behavior.
