The Score: How The Quest For Sex Has Shaped The Modern Man | 
 enlarge | Author: Faye Flam
Publisher: Avery
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 198926
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1583333126
Dewey Decimal Number: 155.3
EAN: 9781583333129
ASIN: 1583333126
Publication Date: June 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A smart, witty, and fresh look at the male side of the male-female relationship from a science writer and sex columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Beginning with a boot camp for wannabe pickup artistswhere men pay thousands of dollars for three days of classroom seminars on how to get women into bedFaye Flams quest for a deeper understanding of men takes her back through the evolutionary history of the human male.
Sweeping from the birth of the first male and female organisms to the sexual foibles of twenty-first-century humans, Flam shows how a small difference in the size of the first sperm and eggs set off a war between the sexes that were still fighting today. Since this primordial split, a consistent pattern of behavior has emerged: males use a stunning variety of strategies to make themselves attractive to females, and females put them through the wringer.
By placing the human male in the context of the natural world, Flam highlights some intriguing resemblances among males of all species, but also the unique challenges that men face when courting womenwhether for a lifelong partnership or a one-night stand. Flam ultimately reveals that millions of years of evolution have left the love lives of humans suspended somewhere between monogamy and promiscuity, and that it is this eons-old tension between males and females that has created the modern man.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A Sex Book for My College-Age Daughters August 16, 2008
Last week I read The Score: How the Quest for Sex Has Shaped the Modern Man and gave my copy of the book to one of my daughters.
This week I ordered a second copy so each of my daughters could have one. They are 17 and 19 one in college and one on the way. They each have boyfriends who are good guys--I have met them and liked them. But I am going to be gone next year (I am getting deployed to Iraq) and this book is an entertaining look at the biology that led to males and females from dividing amoebas and how that biology helped to make guys what they are today--for better and for worse. The recurring theme in the book is Flam talking about a seminar she attended in New York where men pay $2150 for a 9-step program on how to pick up women. From flatworms to giant squids to gorillas, we see males fighting to mate with females, but not staying around to set up household. The book alternates between science and mating rituals among modern humans. The book is definitely for readers as interested in learning about science as about sex, but for that kind of reader the book is a lot of fun.
http://armynow.blogspot.com
 Interesting and amusing, comparable to a nice fishing expedition tour July 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is amusing to read, although it is a mixture of exact and inexact science and also includes a flair of soap: The author did a tremendous job reviewing the varieties of sexual reproduction in all kind of different species, but then sometimes confounds these reports with personal opinions, allusions to mythology, or simplistic explanations that refers to "gentics" or "evolution". The reader is taken more to a boat and fishing expedition tour rather than to get scientific based facts or hypotheses. Moreover, some core aspects in sexuality are almost totally neglected (ie womens "slower" but nontheless powerful sex drive or cultural aspects among times and ethnicities, the power and prestige and so on) as well as aspects about sexuality going wrong (eg traumatization and violence). It finally remains unclear how the sexual behviour in fishes, worms or apes (who, according to the author, 'thinks' of nothing else than to pass their genes to the next generation) relates to the modern men in the 21th century (who is seldomly driven by that same thought, when it comes to sex). Where is the link, where is the relation? Is it genetics, evolution, power - or all of them? No clear answer. In summary, at the end of the book, one does not feels to get a good answer to the initial question why the modern man has been shaped by sex, but comes up with some confusion a not so ground breaking conclusion: Most males like having sex with females and are willing to put efforts into it. Females on the other hand, like to have healthy offspring/caregiver and are willing to put some efforts into the seletcion for a good partner. This would have shaped todays's males and females behaviour in everyday's situation. But how far that behaviour goes in daily life, has not been discussed in that book at all. For example, would that behaviour persist after founding a family and could that somehow be repsonsible for all the many divorces in western societies? Has the beauty of arts, culture or science etc. not at least sometimes more incentive than to impress females? And would that be sufficient to explain, for example, why most musicians, artists, noble price winners etc. have been males? Thinks are more complex, obvioulsy, and the burden of going through life threatening pregnancies/deliveries and exhausting baby times could also be a good reason, but coming to this was perhaps not the scope of tis book? Finally, the cover of the book is also not a good reflection for the typical "male/female" behaviour most often depicted in the book: The male is not about to spend most energies by simply following a female (or to chase her on a ladder) but, according to the author, gives it best to conquer females by impressing them and beating male rivals. This is a different scenario, but perhaps the choice of the cover has been driven by another force: to offer a picture (with sexy female legs and shoes) following a very simple rule... sex sells - the pickup artist, called Mr. Future in the book, would surely agree on that!
One of the best popular science books in the past few years July 1, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
In one of the episodes of the TV show "Frasier", the lead character, radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane, is having a dispute with his station manager, an attractive female. As he's describing the situation to his housekeeper, Daphne, he remarks that he thinks the manager is using her charms to get what she wants. Daphne says, "Oh, come on now, Dr Crane. It's not like men have never used sex to get what they want," - to which Frasier replies, "How can we possibly USE sex to get what we want? Sex IS what we want."
That certainly rings true, but the interesting question is: why is it true? This book provides an entertaining, extremely readable, and scientifically sound look at the reasons men behave the way they do when it comes to sex. It made me smile, laugh out loud sometimes, nod in agreement often, and shake my head in wonder other times. Faye Flam, science reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and one of the best and most versatile science writers around, wrote a delightful weekly column for that paper, called "Carnal Knowledge", about the science behind sex. Here she expands on that to focus on how the quest for sex has shaped the male of the species, and when I say "shaped", I mean everything from his behavior to his physical characteristics (check her discussion of "fibroelastic" vs "vascular" male equipment for one example).
Flam, who majored in physics at Cal Tech, has written on subjects ranging from genomics to astronomy, so you'd expect her to get the science right, and she does. Based on her previous journalism, you'd also expect her to make that science understandable and fun to read, and that she does as well. The book is written in a clear, enjoyable style that brings the evolutionary biology, human physiology and psychology to life. Chapter topics range from a boot camp for would-be pickup artists to how testosterone determines the male brain and body to why men seem to be attracted to pornography. I learned about alpha males and why they don't always win the competition for sex. I learned about gay sheep. There's a great chapter about the secret life of the sperm. If you're a man you'll understand better why we are the way we are, and if you're a woman, you may realize how difficult it is to change us! Regardless, it's a great read, for the summer or any time.
Fascinating research without the "geek speak" June 25, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
"The Score" is a science-based book that takes its topic seriously, but avoids falling into twelve-syllable jargon and "geek speak." Instead, its conversational tone feels more like an interesting chat than a pedantic lecture. A science-based book that makes you laugh while you learn can be a rare thing, but this accomplishes that -- and more.
Her descriptions of the "pickup artists' training," the explanations of "peacocking" behavior, the quirkiness of species that can change genders on a whim ... It's fascinating stuff, and presented with the authority of an expert in the enjoyable voice of an everyman (or everywoman, as the case may be).
 "The Score" makes major points June 25, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Faye Flam has that rare talent to take something as convoluted as genetic science and make it readable. Perhaps some of the nation's textbook publishers should take note of the way she handles the topic.
Her book is proof that Flam is more than scientist, more than writer: In "The Score," she links us to other creatures, and the one drive we all share -- to procreate. Who can read her account about the sex life of the giant squid and not wonder about the power of that instinct?
Flam has a fine wit, and is not afraid to inject a bit of her own life into the book's pages. Sure, she lampoons men, but she gets a few good jabs in at her own gender, too. And what's wrong with extolling the fact that she has a mate of her own? That's as it should be. She also manages to wrap up the book the way she began it, with her visit to the seduction workshop. Facile? No. Fascinating? Yes.
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