The Male Brain: A Breakthrough Understanding of How Men and Boys Think

I found this audiobook to be a plug for Brizendine's personal beliefs. It was fascinating to learn about the various hormones that influence the male brain. I found however, that Brizendine takes many liberties in her interpretation of this data. Her thesis seems to be centered around the idea that males are completely controlled by hormones and simply cannot help themselves in their actions. In other words, we apparently have no choice in the behaviors we participate in. Scholars should not pass their opinions off as facts unless they preface them as such.

The companion book to The Female Brain (which I think helped me understand my wife, daughter, and mom - although they are yet to agree). Being the owner of a male brain myself, I was pleased to receive an owners manual (seems a little late at 40 - but shoos complaining? Turns out that all the ways my brain fails to help me make good decisions are understandable, if not excusable, by the mix of hormones and wiring that evolution has left my brain to cope with my environment. My male brain changes as I age due to the effect of age related hormones and changes in biochemistry.

Understanding the biological and hormonal routes of my emotions may help me recognize a gap between the reality I perceive the reality that those around may be interpreting. Like most brain books, the central message is that we are dealing with an enormously complex apparatus that may not always cause us to act in our best interest (as evolution cares about passing on genes, not making us or those around us happy). In the future I'm going to use my brain to think about the hormones and molecules being released at any given time when things start to fire wildly (causing stress, anxiety, anger, etc. etc.) - in an effort to recognize that with the passage of time the world may feel somewhat different.

The Male Brain has been pretty well panned in the reviews I've read. My advice is that if you are not a neuroscientist to start than you will get lots out of the book (I did). Brizendine is a good writer and a good storyteller. She may simplify - but simplification in this case advances rather than detracts from understanding.

So I enjoyed both books (The Male Brain, The Female Brain) by this author, but to a friend, I'd recommend they read only one of the two. (whichever is the opposite of their sex I think.) There seemed to be a decent amount of common material, and reading them back to back, I felt like I was listening to the same book twice at many times. Good books though! I think they should be required reading!

I admit that I haven't gotten that far into the book and I am struggling to find the inspiration to finish it.

While her conclusions might be correct about extroverted sports jocks it is by no means a conclusive study of male mentality or motivations.

In the section where she describes boys from the age of about 2 to 10 the attitudes and behaviours supposably produced by testosterone in no way resemble my development years.

I was hoping for something that would help me my wife and myself understand me and my son better but up until now all I have found are numerous anecdotes on bullies, alpha males and sport jocks.

Anybody who is or knows a male who is introverted, bookish or intellectual will have a very difficult time believing Brizendine.

I am going to trudge through about 2 more hours of this dribble with the hope of finding something more substantial and meaningful, but that is all I can give her.

There are just too many fascinating, high quality books to waste more time on this dribble.

loved every minute of it. Can't say so about the female brain. This one has a lot more scientific info and a lot less gossip and anecdotal scenarios than the female brain.

I listened to the "Female Brain" with interest and thought I would gain as much information from Brizendine's second volume, "The Male Brain." I was not disappointed and found the book a most informative read. It will help me understand my grandsons better for sure. Essentially, Brizendine takes us through the life of the male brain from childhood through the mature adult years. If you have any interest in the behavior of men around you - this is a great little book and place to start. It is well written and Kimberly Farr has not been better at narration.

I really loved this book - explaining so many things about "how I acted" in the past or "male act" in general. Absolutely interesting, especially also, when you raise a (male) child!
Looking forward to listen to "The female brain",

This book is full of science which may make it a hard slog for some people. But if you want the full understanding of the male brain then this is one of the best books on the topic. Becasue the author explains the changes to the male brain and biology over the course of life this book is also helpful to parents.

This is a well presented educational book. There is no 'interpretation' of science by the author, nor does it rely in 'questionable reseach'. Unfortunately for some people the facts presented in this book will be hard for them to confront. Particularly those who believe in such things as the blank slate, or that gender is only a social construct. It's also agenda free which is another refreshing thing about it.

Both this book and Brizendine's other offering, The Female Brain, left me angry and disgusted. Not only is her science questionable, but the extremely narrow view of both men and women is extremely off-putting. She is clearly writing about the average, addressing only the superficial. I give it one star only because it is short.

Not a book I would recommend. Too much techno-talk. Very disconnected and does not flow.