Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #605830 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-26
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Review
Anthony Holden author of "William Shakespeare: The Man Behind The Genius"As erudite as it is entertaining, David M. Friedman's biography of a body part is also the history of an idea, a study of a symbol, a bold journey through the treacherous terrain between the mind and the most mutinous outpost of its empire. Both humorous and harrowing, "A Mind of Its Own" is every bit as provocative as its subject matter demands.

The Guardian, 9th November 2002
A Mind of its Own is fascinating - in other words, as powerful and intriguing as an erection.

Literary Review, November 2002
Friedman's new offering is ... a serious, witty, erudite history - the book we have been crying out for all this time.

Customer Reviews

Not what it seems
The first page I opened this book at contained an incredible howler. "By...1275, the penis had virtually disappeared from Western art for eight hundred years."

This is completely false, because hundreds of Romanesque churches (in France, Spain and England) have penises, ithyphallic males, megaphallic males and even masturbating males plain to see upon them (see the website www.beyond-the-pale.org.uk/satan1.htm to check this out). So this book lacks basic scholarship, for a start.

It also lacks focus, is given to mere anecdote, and has pathetic pictures. Like many penises, it does not live up to its promise. I shall donate my copy to the local library.