‘moody’ by amy thomson appealed to me because i find myself increasingly curious about the details of how my body works. it is my intention to work more with it and less against it.
so, when i saw that the author had developed an app of the same name after educating herself about the female endocrine system due to burnout, i bought the book without hesitation. i shouldn’t have.
my two main criticisms are:
- the writing. it’s repetitive and superficial.
- the science. there’s a lot of talk about the importance of talking about hormones, but the author conveys very little actual in-depth knowledge. the science consistently felt vague. and let me tell you one thing: science is many things, but vague is not one of them.
if that wasn’t enough, there are several references describing the female body in an almost other-worldly way.
now, i agree that we still have much to learn about it, but what’s with the mysticism? my organs are not magic. i was looking for information, not an introduction to esotericism. not that there’s anything wrong with that — it’s just not what i’m looking for.
in short, this has all the hallmarks of a glorified sales pitch for the aforementioned app, which apparently went from a ‘fringe hormone app to a global solution’ (p.170) during the pandemic.
my unsubstantiated theory is that when the app gained popularity, someone tried to cash in with a book deal. the result is a failed attempt at dumbing down science.
which fills me with anger. this book is obviously geared towards women, so who felt the need to dumb down the science just because the target audience is female?
why isn’t there a better book on this?
one with actual science, explained by an actually qualified expert?
why is it that i can find nonfiction books about seemingly everything except this?
anyhow, should you have leads on evidence-based books about hormones or women’s health in general, please feel free to leave them in the comments.
rant over.
