Bitch What Does It Mean to Be Female?
Lucy Cooke
Paperback (16 Feb 2023)


Publishers Synopsis

A dazzling, funny and elegantly angry demolition of our preconceptions about female behaviour and sex in the animal kingdom ... Bitch is a blast. I read it, my jaw sagging in astonishment, jotting down favourite parts to send to friends and reading out snippets gleefully... Observer

A book that is tearing down the stereotypes and the biases. Absolutely fascinating. BBC R4 Womans Hour

From the heir to Attenborough. 5* - Telegraph

Glorious ... A bold and gripping takedown of the sexist mythology baked into biology ... Full of marvellous surprises. Guardian

Colourful, committed and deeply informed. Sunday Times

Gloriously original Daily Mirror

A sparkling attack on scientific sexism Nature

Humorous, absorbing, sometimes shocking (for a variety of reasons), and bound to be a conversation starter BBC Wildlife

Brilliant ... Cooke is a superb science writer TLS

Zoologist Lucy Cookes hilarious and enlightening book reclaims evolutionary biology for females of all species. New Statesman

Introduces us to a marvelous zoetrope of animals. The Atlantic

[An] effervescent exposé ... [A] playful, enlightening tour of the vanguard of evolutionary biology. Scientific American

Selected for the Telegraphs best books for summer 2022 and as one of the Guardians 50 hottest new books for a great escape.
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What does it mean to be female? Mother, carer, the weaker sex? Think again.
In the last few decades a revolution has been brewing in zoology and evolutionary biology. Lucy Cooke introduces us to a riotous cast of animals, and the scientists studying them, that are redefining the female of the species.

Meet the female lemurs of Madagascar, our ancient primate cousins that dominate the males of their species physically and politically.

Or female albatross couples, hooking up together to raise their chicks in Hawaii.

Or the meerkat mothers of the Kalahari Desert - the most murderous mammals on the planet.

The bitches in BITCH overturn outdated binary expectations of bodies, brains, biology and behaviour. Lucy Cookes brilliant new book will change how you think - about sex, sexual identity and sexuality in animals and also the very forces that shape evolution.
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Praise for Lucys previous book THE UNEXPECTED TRUTH ABOUT ANIMALS
Endlessly fascinating - Bill Bryson
I cannot remember when I enjoyed a non-fiction book so much - Daily Express
A joy from beginning to end - Guardian
Best science pick: deeply researched, sassily written - Nature


Book information

ISBN: 9781804990919
Publisher: Transworld
Imprint: Penguin Books
Pub date: 16 Feb 2023
DEWEY: 591.56
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: xxv, 369
Weight: 268g
Height: 128mm
Width: 197mm
Spine width: 28mm