Sperm Wars

Despite it's name, this is a serious book.  It delves into the biological details of what plays out when two people have sex but goes much deeper by discussing how our bodies optimize our chances for high quality reproduction.

As the author points out, we men do seem to be at a severe disadvantage when it comes to reproductive success in that women's bodies have more tricks and techniques by far than we do.

Men are pretty limited as our main weaponry is the composition of our 3 sperm types: killer sperm, egg-getters, and blockers.

Women's bodies on the other hand can manipulate the width of the cervix, the viscosity of their discharge, and the timing of egg release to name a few.

And while it's true that it is all invonlunatry, the kicker is that as fortune favors the brave, a woman's body favors the temporary interloper over the steady as you can male.

 Thus a one night stand has a significantly higher chance of impregnation than sex with a regular partner and in one of the more disturbing pieces of information, there is a much higher percentage chance of rape resulting in pregnancy too.  YIKES!

Many men will find this book disturbing, and some men may even find that it fuels a certain level of misogyny, believing in free will should help.  For those of you who are stronger on the nature side than the nurture side you are not going to like what's in this book if you value traditional religious morals.

Or, if you're one of those people like me who takes things as they come, then you'll appreciate having a better knowledge of the field of battle than most of your competitors.   Additionally, I do believe in free will(ie the will for people to choose what's in their best LONG TERM interest--my job being to set things up so that I am in their best long term interest and making sure the women in my life know that)

Ultimately it all comes down to reproductive strategy, and since a lot of guys get all bent out of shape by this book I often recommend reading The Red Queen first.  And I'll discuss that book in a future post.