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The Masters of Sex
by
Thomas Maier (Goodreads Author)
Before "Sex and the City" and ViagraTM, America relied on William Masters and Virginia Johnson to teach us everything we needed to know about what goes on in the bedroom. Over the course of more than forty years, Masters and Johnson convinced hundreds of men and women to copulate in the name of science--over 10,000 sexual acts in all. They quickly became the nati...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
August 3rd 2010
by Basic Books
(first published March 20th 2009)
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after reading masters of sex, i am totally charmed by virgina johnson. for whatever reason, i always thought she was a stiff old doc like bill masters. but i was wrong. some notes:
--seated on a leather lounge chair, a woman, naked except for a pillowcase over her head, rubbed the outside of her vulva with a long, plexiglas penis. attached to a small camera with a plate glass optical eye, this “motor powered phallus” could produce high-quality color-motion photographs. sensors fixed to ...more
--seated on a leather lounge chair, a woman, naked except for a pillowcase over her head, rubbed the outside of her vulva with a long, plexiglas penis. attached to a small camera with a plate glass optical eye, this “motor powered phallus” could produce high-quality color-motion photographs. sensors fixed to ...more
pretty good dual biography of Masters and Johnson, the sex researchers. He had an affair with her while still married to first wife, then 20 or so years later left her for a re-found girlfriend from his teenage years. And you're probably aware of the work they're famous for in observing couples having sex and providing some of the first detailed descriptions of sexual response, treatment methods for sex dysfunctions, etc.
William Masters died before this book was written, and even wit...more
William Masters died before this book was written, and even wit...more
I'm not generally in the habit of reading biographies (exception: I've read all the biographies there are to read about Victoria Woodhull), because I don't really subscribe to the "great men" approach to history (I'm somewhat more susceptible to "great women"). I'd rather read about social movements and popular culture. That said, William Masters and Virginia Johnson spawned a new age of sex in the United States, so: worth reading.
I really enjoyed this book - the ...more
I really enjoyed this book - the ...more
Wow, talk about Masters and Johnson! If there is anything you ever wanted to know about them, it is in this book. Plus quite a few things you didn't know you wanted to know. It may be because I'm in a related field to M&J and have always seen them as forefathers, but I was enthralled with the book from start to finish.
Why only 3 stars? I'm not positive that the content really required 375 pages of text to explicate. Also, the opening description of Virginia's first sex experience wa...more
Why only 3 stars? I'm not positive that the content really required 375 pages of text to explicate. Also, the opening description of Virginia's first sex experience wa...more
This is a fascinating biography of the famous OB-GYN Bill Masters and his assistant Virginia Johnson who revolutionized how sex is viewed in medicine and society. The book details their controversial techniques, and their intimate and simultaneously estranged relationship. Sometimes real life is more fascinating than fiction.
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I hadn't really known about Masters & Johnson as people and this brought a lot of insight. I just wish there had been more focus on their later years, what drove Masters to advance crackpot theories about homosexuality and Johnson to destroy all their tapes, things like that. Still, I learned plenty of things I hadn't known.
co-biographies are one of my favorite types of book; there is a lot of personal information here about the two people; getting older may not reduce your ability to have sex, but it really took a toll on their scientific careers
I didn't finish this. Disappointingly neither too pedantic nor pedantic enough to satisfy me. (lol?)
Learned a lot about them I didn't know.
Good overview of recent cultural history
6/28/2009 NY Times Book review
A very well written biography, and actually interesting. It's amazing that these two people had the courage to pursue the needed medical research on this topic that people just did not want to talk about or found deviant. So much knowledge came from them, we should be thankful they had the tenacity to do it.
Sort of dry and boring, not as interesting as a book on Kinsey I read last year. There is some good information on the history of Masters and Johnson, if that's what you're looking for. If you're looking for titillating, buy a Zane book.
A good companion to Bonk -- take a more critical eye towards deficiencies in their work.
from the library c2009
there is a cd set for this book now.
there is a cd set for this book now.
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| Endorsements for "Masters of Sex" by Thomas Maier | 1 | 11 | Apr 02, 2009 07:24pm |
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Thomas Maier is the author of The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings, which was adapted for Warner Home Video DVD, and the critically acclaimed Dr. Spock: An American Life, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1999. He is a special writer at Newsday. He lives in Long Island, New York.
www.thomasmaierbooks.com
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