The Naked Man
A study of the male body
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Following on from the international success of The Naked Woman, bestselling zoologist Desmond Morris turns his attention to the human male. The Naked Man is a study of the masculine body from head to toe, exploring how biological features have been modified, suppressed or exaggerated by customs and changes in social fashions.
Packed full of scientific fact, engaging anecdote and thought-provoking conclusions, including a controversial chapter examining male sexuality, The Naked Man is a must-read for anyone interested in this far from rare, but nevertheless endangered species.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This follow-up to Morris's 2005 The Naked Woman rambles aimlessly around each part of the male body, beginning with hair and working down to the feet, jumping from evolutionary matters to strange, tangentially related social ones. Discussing the mouth, for instance, Morris begins with the unusually fleshy human lip, proceeds to the teeth and soon digresses to why women visit the dentist more often than men and the latest trends in false teeth. Bits and pieces of the book are entertaining, but Morris regularly falls back on anecdotes rather than scientific evidence for his arguments. And while he espouses equality for both women and homosexuals, he can still express the view that it is men, not women, "who have been driven on by their genetically installed ambitions actually to take the great steps necessary to build our towering civilisations." And current scientific evidence runs counter to his view that "from an evolutionary standpoint, there is only one valid biological lifestyle for the human male and that is heterosexual." Morris's writing is simple (perhaps too simple), clear and occasionally entertains, but it makes for poor science. Photos.
