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

Randi Epstein has written a fun, fast-paced medical detective story about the discovery of hormones and what they do in the body. We learn how these chemical signals regulate growth, weight, gender and sexuality, even the bonding of mother and infant. We learn what happens when there is too much of them – think of the fat lady and giant that were once paraded around at the Circus – or too little – the salt craving and exhaustion of Addison’s Disease that afflicted John F Kennedy.Epstein, a doctor with a dual degree in journalism, also delves into the many controversies that have taken place over the years -- Can hormones incite violence? Can they be used to stay young? Should women take them after menopause.But perhaps most intriguing in this fascinating story are the many different people that have played key roles along the way – the highly intelligent but arrogant neurosurgeon that studied the pituitary gland (Harvey Cushing), the determined female scientist who developed the groundbreaking technique used to measure hormones (Rosalyn Yallow), and the parents of a patient who circled the country to collect dead bodies so their son might have the hormone he needed to grow (Al and Barbara Baliban).I loved this book and highly recommend it.

This book is all about the history of how different hormones were discovered. I was hoping for a breakdown of how they interact as well as imbalances and the body's reactions/behaviors so in that respect I was disappointed. But as a whole it is a good read.

"I have to admit, when studying bio in college the aspect I hated most was memorizing all of the endless endocrine pathways. So many acronyms--so little relevance. Or so I thought; how wrong I was.Dr. Epstein's book is the one I wish I'd read in school and (perhaps the first time anyone has ever said this) also made for excellent beach reading. I came away with knowledge that will allow me to cast a more suspiciously curious eye over the hormone "industry". Which is in part Epstein's main point--endocrinology is partially an industry of supreme marketing, and it always has been.We are also brought up-to-date with the present-developing science in a way that one generally is not without reading a journal. Epstein's clarification of Leibel's work on hormones illuminates a raging debate within the literature: both scientific and popular.Also, how often does a book of non-fiction alert you to an Orson Welles film? Five stars for sure.

Any book that helps the broader public understand how hormones work and how important they are is really important. It's not easy because hormones are key parts of the body's endocrine system, which is really complicated and builds upon many different scientific disciplines beginning with endocrinology. I should know, because in 1996 I published (along with Theo Colborn and Dianne Dumanoski) a book about how chemicals interfere with the hormones, Our Stolen Future. It's still in print and you can find it here on Amazon. I am a member of The Endocrine Society, the professional scientific association of endocrinologists (physicians and research scientists, about 18,000 members around the world) and have even received the Endocrine Society's Laureate Award for Outstanding Public service for my work on endocrine disruption, i.e., how chemicals interfere with hormone action. I have also received an award from the US National Institutes of Health for this work. I mention these not to boast but to establish my credentials in this field.This book does a good job of conveying the basics of hormone action. But it misses vital information. Naomi Oreskes, the famous historian of science at Harvard University described this failure in a recent book review of Aroused published in the New York Times. I quote from Oreskes' review:"Epstein also elides the problem of hormone-disrupting chemicals. Among the reasons hormones long eluded scientific understanding is that they can be effective at minuscule doses, and the body is acutely sensitive to when those doses are released. One of the great advances of late-20th-century science was to understand this; another was to recognize that some synthetic chemicals — most notoriously the pesticide DDT but also many others — can mimic hormones with great adverse effect. (DDT was banned in part because it was killing bald eagles by disrupting their reproduction.)""These chemicals are toxic, but not in the way that lead or mercury or arsenic is. Rather, they alter endocrine function: hence the moniker endocrine-disrupting chemicals or EDCs. The human health effects of EDCs are not entirely understood, but the list of potential problems is long: prostate and breast cancer, infertility, fibroids, endometriosis, male and female reproductive dysfunction, birth defects, disrupted immune function, obesity, diabetes, cardiopulmonary disease, neurobehavioral and learning dysfunctions like autism, hermaphroditism and alternation of sexual identity in animals. One estimate places the cost of the disease burden at $340 billion. Surely a book on the history of hormone research should have something to say about that."Oreskes criticism is spot on. You'll get a lot from this book, and if you know nothing about hormones it's a good place to begin. But beware: you aren't getting the full picture.

This book is a wonderful and engaging ride through the history of hormones. Epstein elucidates while she educates us on a subject that is far more fascinating that most of us may realize. We are all a little curious about how hormones work and the role they play – growth hormones, sex hormones etc. The author takes that little bit of curiosity and pulls you into a well-researched and lucid chapter on each topic. You leave each chapter feeling so much more enlightened and educated. For example, the chapter looking at the relationship between gender, sexual orientation and hormones is a real eye-opener. Epstein has done all the work for you in terms of her in-depth research and her lucid and engaging writing style. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride through the history of hormones. I highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this history of hormones, the personalities who researched them (sometimes with ethically questionable methods), and the information about what they are and what they do. The characters who people this story run the gamut from hucksters and quacks to accomplished researchers and scientists. The narrative is engaging and educational. It's great leisure reading for the armchair historian, readers casually interested in science and biology, and anyone who's curious about how and why our bodies work the way they do. Highly recommended.

Very informative, enjoyable and easy to read.

Thoroughly enjoyed the book and its history on hormones.

Worth every penny! Easy to read and informative.

Didn't think I'd get so wrapped up in this book but took it on holiday and couldn't put it down. Epstein gives an historic timeline of hormone discoveries that is digestible, interesting, even suspenseful at times. I learned a lot and was entertained. The final chapters about current research are particularly good.

An incredibly well-researched book that should be of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and ethics of medicine in general and endocrinology in particular.