Skip to main content
Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything

Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything

Current price: $16.95
Publication Date: June 18th, 2019
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN:
9780393357080
Pages:
336

Description

A Science News Favorite Science Book of 2018

“A sweeping, glorious story of hormones, threaded through with sex, suffering, neurology, biology, medicine, and self-discovery.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee

Metabolism, behavior, sleep, mood swings, the immune system, fighting, fleeing, puberty, and sex: these are just a few of the things our bodies control with hormones. Armed with a healthy dose of wit and curiosity, medical journalist Randi Hutter Epstein reveals the “invigorating history” (Nature) of hormones and the age-old quest to control them through the back rooms, basements, and labs where endocrinology began.

About the Author

Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D., M.P.H., the author of Aroused and Get Me Out, is an adjunct professor at Columbia University, a lecturer at Yale University, and writer in residence at Yale Medical School. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and the Psychology Today blog, among others. She lives in New York.

Praise for Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything

Well-written and informative.
— New York Times Book Review

The field of endocrinology, as this compelling history shows, has manifested extremes of ingenuity and hubristic error.
— The New Yorker

An invaluable guide.… [Epstein] cleverly moves back and forth through time, avoiding any hint of dry recitation.
— Science News

Engaging.… [Epstein] writes with a wry sense of humor, balancing historical facts and poignant tales of real people.
— San Francisco Book Review

In her funny, eye-opening book, Randi Hutter Epstein demystifies [hormones], while taking away none of their amazing power.
— Carl Zimmer

A simply riveting read that is as informed and informative as it is well written, organized, and presented.
— Midwest Book Review

Epstein brings a savvy background to a book rich in clever digressions as well as scientific know-how and historical fact.… A history of endocrinology as entertaining as it is informative, Aroused adroitly covers the basic science, clinical application and dubious commercialization of hormones.

— Shelf Awareness

A fine, poignant survey of ‘what makes us human, from the inside out.’
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Epstein winningly writes about the science of endocrinology, the history of hormone science, and the individuals pivotal to our understanding of the chemical substances that make us who we are.… Aroused is indeed stimulating reading: instructive, thought provoking, and fun.

— Booklist (starred review)

Lucid and entertaining.… [Epstein’s] beguiling prose… makes for a lively and accessible introduction to hormones and the important work they do in the lives of humans.
— Publishers Weekly