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A review by jeremyanderberg
Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just about Everything by Randi Hutter Epstein
3.0
Hormones have gotten plenty of attention in the last decade — from treating depression, to giving men of all ages a (mostly bogus) boost in the form of synthetic testosterone, to helping people better understand their sexuality, gender identity, moods, appetites, and more.
What Epstein does in Aroused is walk us through the history of hormone science as well as the new ideas that are driving what we know (and don’t know) about those mystery drugs that live inside our body.
For someone who’s not very science-y, it was very accessible and always illuminating.
The history parts were fascinating; there have been some seriously weird experiments done in the name of hormones. For instance, one famous study showed that you can remove the testicles from a rooster, see its energy and sex drive plummet, then reinsert them anywhere in the body, and it’s like nothing ever changed. I told you — weird.
Epstein also gets into all the bodily systems and functions that are controlled by hormones — much of which I wasn’t really aware of. And of course us humans are actively trying to control those systems and functions.
In the modern day, it would perhaps seem that we’ve moved beyond the pseudo-science pitched by hucksters the world over, but we really haven’t. Testosterone-boosting products have exploded onto the market, as well as a number of other non-regulated supplements that pitch making you younger, thinner, taller, bustier, etc. And frankly, the vast majority of them are worthless.
This was a really interesting book that I was unexpectedly pulled into. For being in the science genre, it’s surprisingly easy reading, and I learned something new on pretty much every page.
What Epstein does in Aroused is walk us through the history of hormone science as well as the new ideas that are driving what we know (and don’t know) about those mystery drugs that live inside our body.
For someone who’s not very science-y, it was very accessible and always illuminating.
The history parts were fascinating; there have been some seriously weird experiments done in the name of hormones. For instance, one famous study showed that you can remove the testicles from a rooster, see its energy and sex drive plummet, then reinsert them anywhere in the body, and it’s like nothing ever changed. I told you — weird.
Epstein also gets into all the bodily systems and functions that are controlled by hormones — much of which I wasn’t really aware of. And of course us humans are actively trying to control those systems and functions.
In the modern day, it would perhaps seem that we’ve moved beyond the pseudo-science pitched by hucksters the world over, but we really haven’t. Testosterone-boosting products have exploded onto the market, as well as a number of other non-regulated supplements that pitch making you younger, thinner, taller, bustier, etc. And frankly, the vast majority of them are worthless.
This was a really interesting book that I was unexpectedly pulled into. For being in the science genre, it’s surprisingly easy reading, and I learned something new on pretty much every page.