Nerve.com started in 1997, and a decade of the website is celebrated with a collection of writing from its first ten years, along with some pictures.  There is some good writing here, and also some interesting interviews and fun advice columns.  This is a coffee table book for the bedroom, and most people are not going to want to read it all — it is for browsing at random.  There are not many places where you can find literate and non-stereotyped portrayals of sexuality, so we should welcome this book.  Yet it probably won’t hold your attention for long: while there’s something for everyone here, there’s also plenty that won’t appeal, so you may find yourself flipping through the pages trying to find words or images that please.  There’s not enough pictures, and the quality of the paper isn’t the best for photography, so fans of Nerve would be better off seeing out the older collection Nerve: the New Nude.  Still, it’s worth checking out Lauren Slater’s piece about her father’s sex addiction, some excellent selections from Em & Lo’s advice column, and Joycelyn Elders on masturbation. 

© 2010 Christian Perring        

Christian Perring, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York.