Attraction, Love, Sex

The Inside Story

By: Simon LeVay

Narrated by: Dan Calley

Sex, after hunger, may be the most powerful motivating force in our lives. It drives us to seek intimate contact with others and to form relationships that may be fleeting or lifelong, blissful or troubled. Yet many mysteries surround sex and sexuality: Why don't we reproduce by virgin birth? Why does so much of our sexual behavior have nothing to do with reproduction? Why isn't everyone heterosexual? How does the brain create sexual arousal? How do sexual kinks develop? Is porn harmful? What is the relationship between sex and love?

In Attraction, Love, Sex, Simon LeVay introduces listeners to a memorable cast of researchers trying to answer these questions and many more. A biologist dredges a New Zealand lake for asexual mud snails. Psychologists measure whether eating a good meal changes a man's idea of female beauty. Physiologists place lovers in brain scanners. Geneticists reconstruct the sex crimes of Genghis Khan. Neuroscientists create mice whose sexual behavior can be switched on and off. A zoologist traps and releases 260,000 voles and launches a new science of love.

LeVay distills vast expertise on the biology and psychology of sex into an engaging and easy-to-understand survey. This book reveals how scientists are unraveling the secrets of sex and, in the process, shattering many traditional ideas and prejudices.

©2023 Columbia University Press (P)2023 Tantor

Excellent book, Excellent recording

Excellent is the key word to describe this book. It is thoughtful and useful and interesting and told me things I didn't know. This book is not a repetition of his 2014 book on Audible. The two books build on each other. I will be listening to this again in the future. It is a credit well spent.