Book Review: Congratulations, it's a Healthy Contribution to the Literature

Abstract

Reviews the book, How We Do It: The Evolution and Future of Human Reproduction by Robert Martin (2013). This book stands as a book of great importance and value because it represents a distillation of 40 years of research into the form of an accessible and affordable scholarly trade book. Martin's topic coverage is its contemporaneousness; several of the bibliographic references are dated 2012. Although Martin cites a number of his own studies, he does not use this volume as an excuse to refer to his entire oeuvre. Typically, the author provides an in-depth review of his topic and refers to classic studies or encyclopedic reviews. The appropriate inclusion of a glossary makes this book broadly approachable, and successful sales could work towards providing much-needed context for our current reproductive behavior in order to dispel harmful notions, promote practices and technologies that reflect deep understanding of natural human biology. Overall, Martin has provided a splendid coverage suitable for a wide readership, but should be a priority read for those studying any aspect of human reproduction and sexual behavior. One disappointment was a slight formulaic, but probably necessary, element to this trade book. It would have been nice if The author had been in a position to freely and limitlessly explore some of his coverage areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)