Thanks to its subtitle and the lurid images of brains embossed on its jacket, I stupidly mistook this book for a work of popular science. In fact, it is a moral treatise denouncing premarital sex.  Its main and not unreasonable thesis claims that promiscuity — especially of the precocious variety — invites unhappiness, emotional callousness, and difficulties in maintaining long-term romantic relationships.  Unfortunately, the authors try to harness the (rather shaky) epistemic authority of contemporary brain-science to drive home their points.  That would not be so troubling if they at least managed to demonstrate a degree of affinity for their subject, but this pair of ob/gyns write about the brain with the same level of understanding and enthusiasm one would expect from a neuroscientist writing about I.U.D.s.  To conclude on two positive notes: young people who have chosen to abstain from premarital sex may benefit from the book’s practical advice on how to preserve their commitment, and some of the endnotes cite genuine scientific papers which might be interesting to look up.

© 2010 Berel Dov Lerner

Dr. Berel Dov Lerner teaches philosophy at the Western Galilee College in Israel.  Visit his book-review blog at http://lerner-reviews.blogspot.com/.