Skip content
Celebrate indie bookstores with our limited-time sale! Shop the sale
The Better Half by Sharon Moalem
  Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account
IBD balloon logo

Shop the sale

In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!

Shop now

The Better Half

On the Genetic Superiority of Women
Due to publisher restrictions, this audiobook is unavailable for purchase in your selected country.
Narrator Sharon Moalem

This audiobook uses AI narration.

We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

Learn more
Length 5 hours 43 minutes
Language English
  Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account

An award-winning physician and scientist makes the game-changing case that genetic females are stronger than males at every stage of life

'A powerful antidote to the myth of a "weaker sex"' Gina Rippon, author of The Gendered Brain

From birth, genetic females are better at fighting viruses, infections and cancer. They do better at surviving epidemics and famines. They live longer, and even see the world in a wider variety of colours. These are the facts; they are simply stronger than men at every stage of life. Why? And why are we taught the opposite?

Drawing on his wide-ranging experience and cutting-edge research as a medic, geneticist and specialist in rare diseases, Dr Sharon Moalem reveals how the answer lies in our genetics: the female's double XX chromosomes offer a powerful survival advantage. And he calls for a long-overdue reconsideration of our one-size-fits-all view of the body and medicine - a view that still frames women through the lens of men. Revolutionary, captivating and utterly persuasive, The Better Half will make you see women, men and the survival of our species anew.

'Brilliant, original and groundbreaking, highly readable and genuinely useful' Daily Mail

Sharon Moalem, MD, PhD, is an award-winning genetics researcher, physician and bestselling author. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Survival of the Sickest and Inheritance, an Amazon Best Science Book of the Year, among other books. His work brings together evolution, genetics, and medicine to revolutionize how we understand and treat disease, and his clinical research led to the discovery of two new rare genetic conditions, and to his discovery of a first-in-class antibiotic which targets 'superbug' infections. His books have been translated into more than 35 languages.

Sharon Moalem, MD, PhD, is an award-winning genetics researcher, physician and bestselling author. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Survival of the Sickest and Inheritance, an Amazon Best Science Book of the Year, among other books. His work brings together evolution, genetics, and medicine to revolutionize how we understand and treat disease, and his clinical research led to the discovery of two new rare genetic conditions, and to his discovery of a first-in-class antibiotic which targets 'superbug' infections. His books have been translated into more than 35 languages.

IBD balloon logo

Shop the sale

In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!

Shop now

Reviews

Let's hear it for the X-chromosome! After decades, if not centuries, of bad press for women and their vulnerable biology, The Better Half gives chapter and verse to show that 'almost everything that is biologically difficult to do in life is done better by females'. An eye- and mind-opening celebration of the reserve genetic horsepower that having two X-chromosomes can bestow, The Better Half is a powerful antidote to the myth of a 'weaker sex'. Moalem's essential thesis is valid and important, and deserves attention both within the scientific community and beyond. This is a readable and lively book, making an argument long overdue Although Dr. Moalem had me at the subtitle, I tore through this fascinating, eye-opening book in one sitting. Provocative, crackling with wit and insight, THE BETTER HALF argues that science has shortchanged women in all levels of research and convincingly reveals that the true differences between men and women come down to longevity, intellect, resilience, and immunity to disease. Now it all makes sense why 95 percent of people who have reached the age of 110 are women. A mind-opening celebration of women Expand reviews
Celebrate indie bookstores with our limited-time sale! Shop the sale