Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History - Hardcover

Florence Williams

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393063186 ISBN 13: 9780393063189

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co., 2012

Synopsis

Did you know that breast milk contains substances similar to cannabis? Or that it 's sold on the Internet for 262 times the price of oil?

Feted and fetishized, the breast is an evolutionary masterpiece. But in the modern world, the breast is changing. Breasts are getting bigger, arriving earlier, and attracting newfangled chemicals. Increasingly, the odds are stacked against us in the struggle with breast cancer, even among men. What makes breasts so mercurial and so vulnerable?

In this informative and highly entertaining account, intrepid science reporter Florence Williams sets out to uncover the latest scientific findings from the fields of anthropology, biology, and medicine. Her investigation follows the life cycle of the breast from puberty to pregnancy to menopause, taking her from a plastic surgeon 's office where she learns about the importance of cup size in Texas to the laboratory where she discovers the presence of environmental toxins in her own breast milk. The result is a fascinating exploration of where breasts came from, where they have ended up, and what we can do to save them.

About this title

Review:

"Florence William's double-D talents as a reporter and writer lift this book high above the genre and separate it from the ranks of ordinary science writing. Breasts is illuminating, surprising, clever, important. Williams is an author to savor and look forward to." --Mary Roach

"[...] an engagingly written book that grabs your attention from the outset." --BBC Focus

"...Florence Williams's tome...is a fascinating and occasionally frightening exploration of these most fetishised of body parts." --Evening Standard

"You certainly won't regret reading Breasts." --The Guardian

"Florence Williams's excellent book shines light on a much-misunderstood part of the body...Breasts is a seriously good book. It's well written, scientifically literate, engrossing and occasionally terrifying" --New Statesman

"...a witty, well-researched and eminently readable book." ----Literary Review

"...a witty, well-researched and eminently readable book." ----Literary Review

About the Author:

Florence Williams is a contributing editor at Outside magazine, and her articles and essays have been widely anthologised. Breasts was named a finalist for the 2011 Columbia/Nieman Lukas Work-in-Progress Award.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0393063186
• ISBN 13: 9780393063189
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352