Death & Sex |  | Authors: Tyler Volk, Dorion Sagan
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 976530
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 160358143X
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.67
EAN: 9781603581431
ASIN: 160358143X
Publication Date: October 13, 2009
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Product Description
On DEATH . . . What is shared by spawning Pacific salmon, towering trees, and suicidal bacteria? In his lucid and concise exploration of how and why things die, Tyler Volk explains the intriguing ways creatures-including ourselves-use death to actually enhance life. Death is not simply the end of the living, though even in that aspect the Grim Reaper has long been essential to natural selection. Indeed, the exquisite schemes and styles of death that have emerged from evolution have been essential to the great story from life's beginnings in tiny bacteria nearly four thousand million years ago to ancient human rituals surrounding death and continuing to the existential concerns of human culture and consciousness today. Volk weaves together autobiography, biology, Earth history, and results of fascinating studies that show how thoughts of our own mortality affect our everyday lives, to prove how an understanding of what some have called the ultimate taboo can enrich the celebration of life.. . . and SEXIn Sex, Dorion Sagan takes a delightful, irreverent, and informative romp through the science, philosophy, and literature of humanity's most obsessive subject. Have you ever wondered what the anatomy and promiscuous behaviors of chimpanzees and the sexual bullying of gorillas tell us about ourselves? Why we lost our hair? What amoebas have to do with desire? Linking evolutionary biology to salacious readings of the lives and thoughts of such notables as the Marquis de Sade and Simone de Beauvoir, and discussing works as varied as The Story of O and Silence of the Lambs, Sex touches on a potpourri of interrelated topics ranging from animal genitalia to sperm competition, the difference between nakedness and nudity, jealousy's status as an aphrodisiac and the origins of language, Casanova and music, ovulation and clothes, mother-in-law jokes and alpha females, love and loneliness. A brief, wonderfully entertaining, highly literate foray into the origins and evolution of sex.Two books in one cover, Death & Sex unravel and answer some of life's most fundamental questions.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 The inevitable pairing December 6, 2009
Personne (Rocky Mountain West)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
There are no two subjects more inextricably bound to human nature than sex and death, or death and sex. Even when we deny our motivations, it's not hard to find them just under the surface. Sex is of course necessary for keeping our species going. Along the way, it's acquired more than a little baggage. The inevitability of death both informs and clouds our thoughts.
This slim volume is in fact two slim volumes: one about sex and the other about death. Each volume is written by a different author and there's only the sketchiest of clues that they may have been intended as a pairing. There is no indication which you should read first, and this is enforced by the physical format of the book. Turn it one way and it's Death. Turn it the other way and it's Sex. I decided to take them in the order I'm taking them in real life, with Death at the end. I should note that both volumes are written from a secular, non-religious point of view. It would be fair to describe them as generally descriptive, rather than prescriptive.
Sex, by Dorion Sagan, approaches sex both as a scientific and sociological phenomenon. The scientific part is the more successful. There is much to learn about the haphazard origin of sexual reproduction and about the evolutionary and adaptive advantages it brings. There are myriad ways--both behavioral and physiological--that this is manifested in the organisms around us. Sagan deals with the shape of genitalia and the particular reproductive strategies that are enforced by this. He deals with monogamy and polyandry as both conferring success in particular ways. This is written in a breezy style that avoids prurience and uses liberal doses of humor. The societal parts of the book are not always successful. While it's perfectly reasonable (required, actually) to understand how moral codes have arisen in human societies, I didn't quite see the reason for the detour through the history of the Marquis de Sade. Occasionally in the attempt to leaven the subject matter, Sagan resorts to use of terms from pornography. While I'm not offended by the language, I often found it unnecessarily clumsy.
Death, by Tyler Volk, is the real find. It deals with both biology and society, but it is organized in a way that feels almost inevitable. After a brief forword which deals with the philosophy of the Epicureans (still wise), Volk takes us through the evolution--yes evolution--of death. Death isn't accidental and unfortunate. It's one of the key building blocks of life. Death is programmed into cells. One of the marvelous examples deals with the human embryo. We start out with tails and webbed hands. Those cells are programmed to die before birth, with their resources going where they're needed. Cells in the trunk of a tree are programmed to die. In doing so, they provide a robust physical structure that also transports nutrients within the plant. There are many such examples. The Pacific Salmon in its great reproductive rush upstream is so awash in hormones (needed to make the trip) that its organs are too degraded to sustain life any farther. These things seem painfully obvious, but only after you've read the book.
In the last chapters of Volk's book, he circles in on the effect death--and the awareness of death--has on humanity. Early funerary practices were necessary purely from the point of view of safety. These practices have grown into diverse and often peculiar practices in current societies. The way that each of us considers our own demise can color the way we treat others. Volk describes some interesting psychological studies on this topic. What has begun as a book of science ends as a meditation. I am much reminded of a book by E.O. Wilson from several years ago. In Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Wilson argues for the integration of science, art and philosophy. Volk's little book is a fine example of just that.
Eros and Thanatos December 15, 2009
Zack Davisson (Seattle, WA, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Presenting people with a copy of "Sex and Death" might be a kind of interesting social experiment in and of itself. Which side do you read first?
"Death and Sex" is an innovative in both the concepts within and the physical design of the book. Both authors, Tyler Volk and Dorion Sagan (yes, THAT Sagan, although he doesn't make a big deal out of it), have written longer, more scientific books on their respective subjects (What is Death?: A Scientist Looks at the Cycle of Life and What Is Sex?), and the proposal was to condense down some of the ideas into a single volume that was equal parts philosophical, scientific and entertaining. The book presents Death on one side, and Sex on the other, and it is the reader's choice on where to begin.
Volk's work, "Death" begins with the philosopher Epicurus (a great starting place for almost everything, in my opinion) and goes on to a deeper exploration of just what "death" is. Cellular-level death occurs all over out bodies on a constant basis, and so parts of us "die" in order for the greater organism to survive. However, the individual molecules that make up our bodies have their own lifecycles, and will be dispersed from our corpses only to be swept up in the assemblage of something else until their own lifespans expire. Something that seems to be so easily definable becomes less so when put under the proverbial microscope.
Sagan's work "Sex" is a little more free-flowing, and Sagan is clearly more of an author than a scientist. This half is the more entertaining read, although probably the less educating. Like Volk, Sagan explores the various definitions of "sex" in our world, and the various tragedies creatures will endure just for that one brief chance of passing on their genetic code, or of bonding with someone, or for a momentary pleasure. Sagan breezes freely into some more radical theories, like the aquatic ape hypothesis and some simian hair-loss, or why pornography makes for more and better babies, or how AIDS is not actually caused by a virus. I enjoyed the diversions but felt some of the information might have been delivered with a qualifier.
All in all the two works compliment each other greatly, and the total package is beautiful. It's been awhile since I have been so impressed by a book's design as well as its contents. Volk's work is the more scientific, and I fear that Sagan's pop-culture references to people like Brittany Spears will date the book and keep it from becoming a "classic," but there are quite a few kernels here for an inquisitive mind to chew on.
Oh, and I read "Death" first. Not sure what that says about me, but I am sure it says something!
Guaranteed food for thought December 27, 2009
Diane Kistner (Georgia)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Know how you always want to have a generic gift or two on hand around the holidays, just in case you forgot somebody who has just shown up with one for you? I'm not suggesting DEATH & SEX would be appropriate for children, but for adults old and young, this would be an interesting gift to have on hand. (Well, use your judgment if you are giving it to somebody else's husband or wife, just in case they might misunderstand the intention behind your gift.)
This book has a quiet elegance about it, like a small box of very fine chocolates. The embossing of the book is a delight to the touch as well as the eye. And it's interesting, and telling, to see which half of the book a person is drawn to reading first. No matter which one it is, Death or Sex, the reader is in for a thought-provoking read. I can almost guarantee you that it's not going to be quite what you expect, no matter which topic you tackle first. I quite enjoyed both of them, for different reasons, and there is a synergy between the two essays that invites ever-deeper ponderings of the meaning of it all. On the whole, this book is quite satisfying, and a keeper.
Can't live without death and sex January 1, 2010
Victoria N. Alexander (New York, NY USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The excellent writing and original insights found in this book ought to be mentioned first in a review, but I can't help but start by noting how charming the book design is. Death & Sex is fittingly a naked hardcover book, without a dust jacket, finished in a lovely and tasteful black damask cloth. The single volume is actually two separate books. One side reads in two lines, "Death Tyler Volk" in silver type above a barely discernable embossed "Sex Dorion Sagan" as a mirror image below it. Turn this attractive little book over and around and it reads "Sex Dorion Sagan" in, of course, harlot red script, and Volk's title and name are its mirror image. This book will be a collector's item; there is no doubt about that. I usually mark up the books I read, but I treat this one like the valuable aesthetic object it is. It is also a book that will find its way into the conversations of all your friends. It covers our favorite subjects with humor and depth. We all wonder what makes us the sexual beings we are. Why these habits and tendencies and not others? How like are we to other members of the animal kingdom? Are the Marquis de Sade's sexual practices any worse than those of male bedbugs who pierce females through any part of their bodies to impregnate them? Sagan explores our cultural, philosophical and biological history of sex, along the way showing us facts and quotes that make us wonder and laugh at ourselves. Consider this gem: Lyndon B. Johnson's observation that "there is nothing so overrated as a lousy lay, and nothing so underrated as a good crap." Tyler Volk's contributions on the subject of death are equally amusing and revealing. Looking at death's life-enabling nature, he makes death beautiful. The two authors together have created a book that gives us new perspectives on life. Don't let this year go by without Death & Sex.
Some Reviews You May Have Missed* February 2, 2010
Dorion Sagan (East Coast, USA and Toronto)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
"What delicious writing and reading! I love this wise and funny big-little book." -Erica Jong, author of Fear of Flying
"A boisterous Siamese twin of a book which looks at the two sides of the same molecular process: that of sex, and that of death, within the framework of life almost eternal. Enjoy, and know you are part of it."--Crispin Tickell, Director of the Policy Foresight Programme, Oxford University, former Warden of Green College, Oxford University, and former British Ambassador to the United Nations
"This champagne cocktail of exploration and insight, not to forget the murkier passions of lust, or the despondency that comes from unrequited love, abandonment, or loss--what an inspired confection of two immensities, sex and death. I genuinely can't recall reading a more inspiring or entertaining book in years!"--Frank Ryan,MD, author of Virolution and Darwin's Blind Spot
"While New Orleans indeed boasts a streetcar named 'Desire,' returning in the other direction, as eventually it must, it runs, appropriately enough, to 'Cemetery,' circulating, like some great cosmic wheel of life and death, endlessly between the two. Eschewing the taboos that surround discussion of both Sex and Death, and transgressing the disciplinary boundaries between philosophical metaphysics and biochemistry, this volume manages to be, at once, both playfully iconoclastic, and technically informative. Indeed it exhibits the very rare capacity to popularize, without 'selling out' or oversimplifying an intellectually challenging analysis of various physiological, animal, social and metaphysical manifestations and implications of this cosmic wheel of life and death. Where else is one going to experience such from chance encounters with de Sade, Monty Python, Basho and Poincare?" --Simon Glynn, Professor of Philosophy, Florida Atlantic University
"Dorion Sagan's Sex is truly fabulous. The flow of writing and joy in reading is not a surprise. Nor are the many fascinating sex factoids which demand an underline in this otherwise mostly 'feets-up' read. But the feets-up ease of Sagan's writing is, at first, misleading. Not unlike a Canterbury tale, we ease into a story only to be awakened--ah, to be enlightened about the cannibalistic origins of sex (nope, no Apple Tree) by the merging properties of Hannibal Lecter, raccoons, and quiet amoebas. Well known as a science writer, Dorion Sagan, shows, once again, that he is far more than that. Sagan is post- post-modern ... a new tack for deep thought, a funny philosopher. When you pick up Sex, you will meet a true fabulist."--Lois Brynes, President, Deep-Time Associates
"In a mere 90 pages, Tyler Volk's book Death brilliantly depicts the biology and psychology of its subject, putting death in proper perspective as an integral component of the life cycle. I've read many insightful books about death, but if I were to recommend one book to help someone come to terms with death, this would be it."--Jeff Greenberg, Director of the Social Psychology Program, Unversity of Arizona
"Sex is the koan we can't stop from coming. Sagan shows us just how deep the riddle of sex goes--pulsing through the world from the Marquis de Sade's plays right down to the bacteria that make up our cells. This slim book allows us to be voyeurs and exhibitionists: Read about the sex lives of others and the other lives of sex to examine yourself. Whether you end up resonating more readily with the puritanical tendencies of the orangutans or with the orgiastic culture of the bonobo chimps, Dorion Sagan's Sex will provide a hilarious, thoughtful, and unforgettable time. It's more fun than my day job." -Conner Habib, porn star and short story writer
"Dorion Sagan muses ruthlessly on the topic of sex and the result is as twisted and tangled as a set of bed sheets. Hyena sex, cycad sex, lots of primate sex, and even a digression on why the Marquis de Sade was not such a bad guy: Sagan takes pleasure in revealing it all. He even makes bacterial sex sound fun. Tyler Volk succeeds in translating everything of the natural world with generous poetic details, from tree-filled landscapes to star systems, as one or another version of death. We humans are by-products of carbon dioxide from dead photosynthesizers, yet Volk manages to make even this a fact well worth celebrating." -Betsey Dyer, Professor of Biology, Wheaton College, author of A Field Guide to Bacteria
"In just 100 pages, everything you really need to know about sex: Why? When? Where? With whom? Dorion Sagan slides effortlessly from seductive prose to bringing the reader sharp up against one astonishing scientific discovery after another." -Denis Noble, Professor Emeritus of Physiology, Oxford University, Fellow of the Royal Society, and author of The Music of Life
"Dorion Sagan and Tyler Volk show us sex is optional and death is necessary, turning the tables on our lusts and fears, our origins and endings, in a surprisingly enticing way." -Adam Daniel Stulberg, Musician and author of Poetic Interconnections website
"In Sex, Dorion Sagan writes with a wit that no other science writer of our generation can equal. And Tyler Volk's Death is spark to the tinder of insight."--Howard Bloom, author of Genius of the Beast: A Redical Re-Vision of Capitalism and The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History
"In Death & Sex two of my favorite thinkers and writers ruminate on two of my favorite subjects and turn up all manner of unexpected interconnections. The result is a splendidly entertaining, informative and original piece of science writing."--John Horgan, author of The End of Science and Rational Mysticism
"Death and Sex--really two books in one--is not a lurid tale of necrophilia. In it quotidian simplicities are dissolved in the acid of evolutionary theory. Death turns out to be more complicated than to be or not to be; and sex is seen to be far more complicated than a tale about a man, a woman and a garden snake. Together, they form a pair of insightful lessons in the application of Darwinian concepts."--Andrew Lionel Blais, author of On the Plurality of Actual Worlds
"I happen to be a book buyer by profession. It is a rare instance when I open up a package of fresh publisher samples that a book brings my day to a halt due to its beauty, let alone its subject. Death and Sex is such a book. Its look and texture are as tempting and forbidding as its topics. This book begs to be given a design award."--Garth Kobal
*also available by clicking on Amazon's "see all editorial reviews" link--I think these reviews are shorter, more fun, and often give a better idea of the book than the Amazon Vine reviewers, who receive a free book to write a review. This is in part because of their qualifications. For example, Denis Noble, above, was Richard Dawkins' thesis advisor. And yeah, I give this book five stars! Actually I give mine 4.5 stars and Tylers 5.5. but it's close enough for government work! @;^p
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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