How To Think More About Sex (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I guess a book on sex is always going to highlight just how diverse we are. Sex is perhaps the most basic of all our needs and yet it creates the most controversy and difference of opinion. All praise to authors who make an attempt. I read the book one and a half times before reading anyone else's review here and was surprised at the depths of dissection and micro analysis that some people have gone to. I'm pretty sure one review is actually longer than the book itself. The opinions on the book were almost as good as the book itself, in that they validated what De Botton says very clearly in the very first chapter, "We should accept that sex is inherently rather weird instead of blaming ourselves for not responding in more normal ways to its confusing impulses. This is not to say that we cannot take steps to grow wiser about sex. We should simply realize that we will never entirely surmount the difficulties it throws our way."I figure that how much you like or dislike this book will depend mainly upon where you are on your own sexual path or journey or spectrum or whatever cliche metaphor you want to use. If you are already sexually liberated from the puritanical BS the West lives under then this might all seem a bit passé. If you're an out and out feminist you might never be satisfied that De Botton writes mainly from a male point of view (how completely inconsiderate of HIM). If you're a University Academic studying human sexual behaviour you might also find it a bit "poppy".But if you are someone who is confused and awkward about sex (umm that'd be most of us), this book might just crack a few insights and might even save a relationship or two. I like this book. This was my intro to de Botton. I was somewhat intrigued early on, that a philosophical discussion of sexuality would bypass some of the typical self-seriousness of the psychological self-help genre (of which admittedly I have a prejudged impression), but a lack of depth, range, factual support and over generalization ultimately turns it into a feel-good text for the uncritical and/or devoted Bottonists. Pop philosophy? Got about ¾ through it—now back to that spanking website he mentioned!
What do You think about How To Think More About Sex (2012)?
If you want to know how your sexual fetishes link to yo Mum and Dad....read this. YUK.
—Athena
Better than I thought it would be but not as good as it could have been.
—nastika
Some parts of this were fascinating, especially if you are in the mood.
—andria
