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Animals and Nature
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On the Female of the Species
Narrator
Lucy Cooke
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Length
11 hours 54 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Lucy Cooke is an accomplished zoologist who interviews a bevy of scientists across the globe in order to expose the glaring gap in knowledge about the female of any species (from insects to mammals to birds). Her writing is feisty, fierce, and witty without being grandiose or over-embellishing facts. Learn about murderous meerkats, polyamorous birds, and frisky bonobos, all while discovering how scientific studies contradicting the patriarchy have been dismissed, hidden, or unfunded. I can’t get this book into your paws fast enough!”
— Riona • Books & Books @ The Studios of Key West
Bookseller recommendation
“This book blew my mind wide open. Everything I’ve ever read about evolutionary biology and the polarity of male versus female has been through the same ultra-Victorian pinhole in which the 'God' of evolutionary science Charles Darwin presented it 200 years ago; males are aggressive and interesting, while females are boring passive babymakers, hardly worth studying. Well, Lucy Cooke tears Darwin and his successors’ theories on sex/gender a new one…respectfully…sort of. I was laughing out loud, snorting, rolling my eyes, and gasping as I listened to the audiobook. It is so funny, so engaging, and an extremely accessible piece of science writing that is perfect for folks who typically gravitate towards non-fiction science books and for those who are new to the genre (like me)!”
— Karen • Cellar Door Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Bitch: On the Female of the Species takes a humorous but thoroughly researched look at evolution and nature, and (I think) fairly successfully demolishes the stale and sexist myths of a male dominated animal kingdom once and for all. Cooke highlights research done by scientists of all genders to show that moving forward is a new world of thought, working hard to question everything the patriarchal establishment has entrenched as dogma over the centuries. Here, females have their day, their spotlight, as scientists try to learn more and show us what their lives are like, asking the reader to question what they think they know about the world around them, including what it means to be 'female.' If you love animals, science, or want to learn about a new avenue of feminism, you absolutely need to read Bitch: On the Female of the Species.”
— Anne • Theodore's Bookshop
A fierce, funny, and revolutionary look at the queens of the animal kingdom
Studying zoology made Lucy Cooke feel like a sad freak. Not because she loved spiders or would root around in animal feces: all her friends shared the same curious kinks. The problem was her sex. Being female meant she was, by nature, a loser.
Since Charles Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been convinced that the males of the animal kingdom are the interesting ones—dominating and promiscuous, while females are dull, passive, and devoted.
In Bitch, Cooke tells a new story. Whether investigating same-sex female albatross couples that raise chicks, murderous mother meerkats, or the titanic battle of the sexes waged by ducks, Cooke shows us a new evolutionary biology, one where females can be as dynamic as any male. This isn‘t your grandfather’s evolutionary biology. It’s more inclusive, truer to life, and, simply, more fun.
Lucy Cooke is the author of The Truth About Animals, which was short-listed for the Royal Society Prize, and the New York Times bestselling A Little Book of Sloth. She is a National Geographic explorer, TED talker, and award-winning documentary filmmaker with a master’s degree in zoology from Oxford University. She lives in Hastings, England.
Lucy Cooke is the author of The Truth About Animals, which was short-listed for the Royal Society Prize, and the New York Times bestselling A Little Book of Sloth. She is a National Geographic explorer, TED talker, and award-winning documentary filmmaker with a master’s degree in zoology from Oxford University. She lives in Hastings, England.
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Reviews
“Fun, informative and revolutionary all at once, Bitch should be required reading in school. After reading this book one will never look at an orca, an albatross, or a human the same way again. And the world will be better for it.”—Agustin Fuentes, professor of anthropology at Princeton University and author of The Creative Spark “Lucy Cooke blows two centuries of sexist myths right out of biology. Prepare to learn a lot — and laugh out loud. A beautifully written, very funny and deeply important book.”
—Alice Roberts, author of Evolution Expand reviews
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