This is exactly my favorite kind of popular science: clearly written, engaging, and approachable without feeling like it is so grossly simplified it is no longer accurate.

While the title makes this sound like a feminist manifesto or some snarky commentary on gender, the actual subject of the book is science - specifically how the X and Y chromosomes impact everything. A really interesting read!

Some things in this book I already knew (such as the role of the X chromosome when it comes to colour vision, and why many more men than woman are colour-blind). Some others were completely new to me, although also related to the X in general (immune system features, for instance, including autoimmune conditions) and I was glad I could expand on my knowledge in that regard.

The book draws a lot on genetic research, obviously, both past findings and current ones. I found it easy enough to follow, and it didn’t strike me as heavy-handed on the medical lingo, but perhaps it would be a little confusing for someone who’s really a beginner in that area, and therefore would be better targeted at people who already have some basic knowledge about genetics here?

I did find it somewhat repetitive, though (as in, keep the examples for sure, but no need to reiterate so often that a lot of it stems from genetic females having a “spare”), and the narrative style, when it uses examples from the author’s real life to illustrate certain points, wasn’t always very clear. The concept behind it and the way it is at times expressed could also be easily problematic; the term “genetic superiority” is fraught with double-meaning, after all, and I can no doubt see it interpreted in less than savoury ways. So, one has to be careful about how they approach this: it is strictly about the advantages brought by having two X chromosomes rather than one if you’re a genetic human female (or having two Ws if you’re a male bird—same difference), and definitely not about who is “superior, with a hint of who should therefore dominate the other”.

Conclusion: 3.5 stars

Interesting premise. But, ultimately would have been better as a piece of long form journalism for say The Atlantic rather than a book. I also felt that there was some sort of greater conclusion/thesis needed.

I really wanted to like this book, the premise was interesting and it seemed like a good fit for my recent deep dive into non-fiction dealing with women and healthcare. It wasn’t a “bad” book, I did finish it and some of it was interesting and informative. It just wasn’t a great book.

I didn't know much about the author, and while the book indicates extensive education in genetics and clinical medicine, he also wrote a book that promises magical weight-loss and a way to reverse aging...so maybe keep a critical eye on what you read in his work.

As for the content of this book it was heartily OK. The premise that having two X chromosomes as a genetic female opens up many advantages is pretty solid and the explanations of how that might be are well written. The real meat of the arguments is pretty technical, though Moalem does a good job making it digestible for readers. However, the basic information regarding the benefits of having two X chromosomes could have been easily explained in a single paper. Much of the narrative is just that, a narrative of all the cool places and cool things that Moalem has done, with some tangential tie ins to the theory that two X chromosomes creates genetic superiority.

Again, not a bad book, but not one I would recommend given the wealth of better options that deal with this topic.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is a rather technical read, so I did go through it somewhat slowly. However, I learned a lot and it never felt bogged down by the technical terminology that she used. She is a doctor, after all. I really took a lot away from this book and just generally enjoyed it!