My Secret Garden

Amazon.com

This book caused quite a ruckus when it was released 25 years ago because it directly quotes the sexual fantasies of dozens of women, ranging from the "very common" rape fantasy to lesbian affairs to unusually explicit scenarios that are unmentionable here. While author Nancy Friday maintains that My Secret Garden served to free millions of women from sexual oppression, there's still a need today to get rid of the guilt that millions more still feel when it comes to fantasizing, having orgasms, and making one's sexual wishes be known. "How could it be, you might ask," she writes, "that women today, at the turn of the century, would still think they were the only Bad Girls with erotic thoughts? What kind of prison is this that that women impose on themselves?"

My Secret Garden has the prurient appeal that made it one of the most passed-around books in high school study halls (it boasts chapters titled "Insatiability" and "The Thrill of the Forbidden"), but its premise, underneath the tales of lusty longings, is a serious one. Friday, also author of My Mother, My Self and Women on Top, is appalled at how parents, especially mothers, instill in their children a deep fear of sexual pleasure, and she advises how to do away with this stultifying force. While Friday can get a little histrionic at times ("Women's lust ... could bring down not only individuals, but society itself"), that doesn't make this book any less enthralling. --Erica Jorgensen

Book Description

When it first appeared, My Secret Garden created a storm of outrage and exhilaration. Women who read it were astonished to find in its pages the hidden content of their own sexual fantasies. More outspoken, graphic, and taboo-shattering than any book before its time, My Secret Garden quickly became the classic study of female sexuality. Today, millions of women have made Nancy Friday's groundbreaking bestseller a mainstay of feminist literature -- a liberating force that adds a sensational new dimension to their sexual fantasies and lives.

Customer Reviews:

A Remarkable Book.......2007-04-18

I first purchased a copy of My Secret Garden back in 1975. What most impressed me was the wide range of attitudes and ideas one possesses; the vastness of the human mind, as expressed in our sexual fantasies.

Some may cringe at some of the fantasies in this book, the bestial and sadomasochistic ones in particular. Readers will also have a variety of opinions on the commonality of bisexual and lesbian fantasies. However these are all part of human nature.

The updated version contains several more recent fantasies and a very interesting introduction which shows how both the study of sexuality and feminism have changed since the early '70s.

I've never written a review BUT..........2007-02-16

...ok, I simply have to say a few words about this book. I was a repressed teen. Had fantasies but felt shameful, dirty, weird. I don't even recall how it was that I found myself in a bookstore thumbing through this book, but I felt SO aroused and...more to the point, LIBERATED..and validated. I wasn't alone in my "weird" fantasies! . I left the store with red ears and a throbbing pulse. Took me many weeks ( maybe it even was months..I don't really remember now, as it was a lot of years ago!) to go back and shame-facedly purchase the book. I won't go into detail here, but suffice it to say, certain pages were dog eared..for many years. ( other pages were never even looked at twice) That one book was the key that opened me up to being a very sexually open and expressive woman. Bravo. Lisa in CT

Awesome.......2007-01-16

The introduction to the book is phenomenal. The author argues that women's lib intentionally left out sexual freedom to keep men as the enemy and to keep women sexually repressed, possibly to make them more controllable or angry (I don't fully understand the second point). As for the fantasies, I previously had never heard a woman express these thoughts. It's a very interesting read.

OK read.......2007-01-06

The book was ok, but not what I expected. It was alot of perception on the authors part.

More disturbing than hot.......2006-10-27

Another reviewer mentioned this already, but there is sex with animals. Most of the lesbian stories involved women being turned on by dogs or donkeys. I was pretty disappointed. I didn't give it 1 star, because I appreciated the work that went into collecting the stories. It was written in the 70s, so maybe that had something to do with the tone.

Average customer rating:

A Beautiful Piece of Fiction
Annie On My Mind
A little slow to get started but all around a good book
Annie on my Mind
Possibly the best lesbian love story I've read

Annie on My Mind
Nancy Garden
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Love & Romance | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0374400113
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Book Description

This groundbreaking book, first published in 1982, is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and who, despite pressures from family and school that threaten their relationship, promise to be true to each other and their feelings.

Of the author and the book, the Margaret A. Edwards Award committee said, “Nancy Garden has the distinction of being the first author for young adults to create a lesbian love story with a positive ending. Using a fluid, readable style, Garden opens a window through which readers can find courage to be true to themselves.”

The 25th Anniversary Edition features a full-length interview with the author by Kathleen T. Horning, Director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. Ms. Garden answers such revealing questions as how she knew she was gay, why she wrote the book, censorship, and the book’s impact on readers – then and now.

Customer Reviews:

A Beautiful Piece of Fiction.......2007-08-08

After twenty-five years, Annie on my Mind remains a classic. It is both a love story and a coming out story that focuses on the growing attraction between two New York teenagers. Set in 1982, the book explores the developing relationship between Liza and Annie at a time when homosexuality was greatly stigmatized. While at a museum, Liza notices Annie, who manages to capture her attention in a way she doesn't quite understand. Much of the chemistry between the two characters is built around their sense of isolation and self-discovery in one another. Even though both come from loving families, neither one seems to "fit in" socially. Nancy Garden manages to pull off the relationship convincingly while avoiding gay stereotypes. I would recommend this book to open-minded readers who prefer a good love story with a happy ending.

A quick, easy, and enjoyable read.

Annie On My Mind.......2007-07-28

God, I love this book!!!! Nancy Garden truly knows what she is talking about when she brings you along on the wonderful story of Annie and Liza. Inspirational and equally rememberable, this story will stay in your heart forever. It really shows the true fear and results of the fear of homophobia. And even though the characters may tumble through hard and difficult times throughout the plot, nothing can equal how they must feel for eachother. A great insight on how love can withstand even the hardest of times.

A little slow to get started but all around a good book.......2007-06-15

Annie on my mind is about 2 young teenage girls that become friends and fall into love quickly. this story takes you on all the twists and turns about their relationship. Im giving it only 4 stars because it took a little longer than liked to get going but i have a short attention span so i dont know how other people feel about it. all in all, it's a very good book and i recommend it to anyone who has been there or for people who need to open up about it more. it will open you eyes to the cruelty that people can have...and how it feels on the receiving end.

Annie on my Mind.......2007-06-08

This is an excelent book about young love and making one's way without regard of the negative views of others. I heartily recoment it.

Possibly the best lesbian love story I've read.......2007-05-17

I don't know where to begin. This book was near perfect. The characters were interesting and believable, the plot flowed wonderfully and the message of love is joyous. The love between Liza and Annie was so real.
All in all, this was just a terrific book!

The Illustrated Kama Sutra : Ananga-Ranga and Perfumed Garden - The Classic Eastern Love Texts

Average customer rating:

Good Introduction
Uncovering the Indian thoughts on sex
Beautiful artwork, interesting positions, but impossible
AN ENLIGHTENING EXPERIANCE.

The Illustrated Kama Sutra : Ananga-Ranga and Perfumed Garden - The Classic Eastern Love Texts

Manufacturer: Park Street Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Hinduism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0892814411
Release Date: 1991-08-01

Amazon.com

"Sex is a good way to begin understanding another culture, just as it is a good way to begin understanding another individual," writes Charles Fowkes in his introduction to Sir Richard Burton's classic translation of the Eastern love texts. As many of the devotees of this popular book can attest, reading about the ancient sexual traditions of India is also a good way for contemporary readers to understand sex. Sir Burton, who is well known as the translator of The 1001 Arabian Nights, condensed the three ancient love manuals of India (Kama Sutra, Ananga-Ranga, and Perfumed Garden) into one book. What makes this a favorite of all the Kama Sutra titles are the unabashedly erotic texts and color illustrations from India, which offer specific suggestions, such as how to "Milita" kiss (the after-fight reconciliation kiss) as well as how to link a former life into current lovemaking. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

Sexual frankness without a hint of guilt or prurience is the great legacy which the Eastern, and in particular Indian, traditions have given us. As an expression of human culture, and as a pillow book for the modern boudoir, the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana the most famous work on sex ever written the Ananga-Ranga of Kalyana Malla, and Sheikh Nefzai's Perfumed Garden, set forth the principles of sensual pleasure with poetry, wisdom, and humor, celebrating love as an ecstatic expression of life's beauty.

Here, for the first time, Sir Richard Burton's translations of the classic Eastern love texts have been published in one volume.

The first Kama Sutra to be illustrated in color with a dazzling and unique collection of Indian painting and sculpture.

These erotic treatises are not sex manuals in the modern sense clinical collections of coital postures but a broader and more humane exploration of Eastern sexual customs.

Customer Reviews:

Good Introduction.......2002-02-06

If you are interested in Kama Sutra, Ananga Ranga or The Perfumed Garden or are not sure which you would like to study, this book is a great starting point. Although all the works are very similiar, this allows you a synopsis of each text and is helpful in determing which or all that you wish to persue further. The illustrations are beautifully done. Not for in-depth reading or review, but more an icebreaker.

Uncovering the Indian thoughts on sex.......2000-08-04

If you are not an oriental person, you will be amazed to see the details. But, as a normal practice of Yoga in India for hundreds of years, illustrations are no more immaterializable. Sex also teches you Yoga and rithmatic breathing through different asanas. Find some from this book. Buy it for a new depth in your attitude towards sex.

Beautiful artwork, interesting positions, but impossible.......2000-07-17

Of course these positions aren't impossible for a human, but it would take a lifetime of stretching before the woman would be able to get into the positions described and depicted.

Don't buy this book if you are looking for a book filled with different sexual positions to try. If you are looking for a book that presents sexuality as a natural, healthy, fun part of life, this book contains the classics. The pages are filled with large, beautiful prints of paintings and pictures of sculptures showing people in seemingly every possible sexual position (though virtually all of them are impossible to anyone with joints and bones). The text of the three books is abridged, with only a very small fraction of the Kama Sutra reprinted in this book.

If you want a book that treats sexuality as the beautiful and natural part of life that it should still be, then consider buying this book. It has been around for centuries (the Kama Sutra for more than a millenium, if memory serves), and is well worth reading. But if you think you'll learn any practicable techniques, you'll be disappointed.

AN ENLIGHTENING EXPERIANCE........1999-07-23

I really enjoyed the superb graphics and very informative text. Whether you are celebate or sexually active, you must accept the fact that a very big part of the human experiance is sexual. The Kama Sutra can strip away the un-neccesary shame and guilt that the pragmatic western philosophies have instilled upon our culture. Sex is a perfectly natural and neccesaery form of communication and means of survival of the species. Mark A. Yenichek

Average customer rating:

Analyze Your Fantasies?
praise from Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality
Real analysis based on legitimate research

In the Garden of Desire
Wendy Maltz , and Suzie Boss
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0553067702
Release Date: 1997-05-05

Amazon.com

Popular books on women's sexual fantasies tend to deliver soft core thrills and tips for a more fulfilling sex life, but disappoint readers hoping for outrageous abandon. Though well-crafted and often erotically charged, In the Garden of Desire is no exception, although it does offer insight into how fantasies evolve and how our sexuality is shaped by early experiences, whether pleasurable, disapproving, or abusive. It reminds us, too, that sex is, like humor, a matter of personal taste. Elaborate scenarios that electrify some of us--from sex-play with a true-hearted, sure-handed lover to nipple clamps--leave others shrugging.

Sex therapist Wendy Maltz and journalist Suzie Boss commendably avoid reducing fantasies to typically simplistic categories, noting that this strips them of the very plot build-up and sensuality that turn many women on. The authors are sanguine about disturbing or violent desires, merely commenting that "fantasies work best for us when they feel optional." To that end, they suggest ways to rewrite unpleasantly obsessive or personally oppressive scripts without completely extinguishing their fire. --Francesca Coltrera

Book Description

In this groundbreaking book, Wendy Maltz, a leading expert on women's sexuality, and journalist Suzie Boss guide us through the fascinating world of women's sexual fantasies, expanding the boundaries of what we know about female desire.  In the Garden of Desire reveals how sexual fantasies, much like dreams, can be seen as gateways to our inner selves.  Drawing on insights from sexuality experts, workshop participants, and interviews with more than one hundred women who share their own deliciously original, sensuous, and provocative erotic stories, the authors inspire each of us to take a closer look at our own sexual imaginations and the roles fantasies play in ou lives.

In the Garden of Desire takes women on a journey of passion, pleasure, and self-discovery as it:

* Describes women's most common fantasy roles and the powerful yet little understood sensory styles of lovemaking women find most arousing.

* Illuminates the diverse functions of sexual fantasies in women's lives, from stimulating orgasm to improving one's self-image.

* Helps women to discover their own sexual styles and to evaluate the pros and cons of how particular fantasies operate in their lives.

* Offers straightforward advice for when and how to talk about fantasies with one's lover.

An unprecedented guide to using the power of the imagination to heighten sexual expression, this intimate exploration will enable every woman to choose her
fantasy life more fully, freely, and deliberately, for her own personal pleasure and lasting satisfaction.

Enter the fascinating and uncharted territory of women's sexual fantasies:

* Our Most Private Thoughts
* Describing Our Fantasy Style
* Where Sexual Fantasies Come From
* How Fantasies Help Us
* Recognizing Fantasy Traps
* Deep Discoveries
* Guided Explorations
* Healing and Changing Unwanted Fantasies
* Sharing Fantasies with Lovers
* Creating Favorite Fantasies

Customer Reviews:

Analyze Your Fantasies?.......2007-01-20

Okay, this is a nice light read for those wanting to delve into their own fantasy life. Based on fantasy workshops, the authors have been able to classify women's fantasies into six catagories, diagram them, take them apart, and examine how they influence or are influenced by our daily lives. This book also focuses on removing harmful or unwanted sexual fantasies that might be impeding growth in a relationship and discusses when and how to bring up fantasies to a partner that might not be receptive. The authors also caution against going from fantasy to reality unless you can really constrain the environment or keep the fantasy playful with easy ways to escape the situation. Overall, this book was very helpful in sparking more of my imagination, and I can see how it would help those with unwanted fantasies too. So, get ready to get aroused and to think through what's really behind the scenes of your favorite fantasy if you pick this one up.

praise from Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality.......2001-10-28

Sex therapist and author Wendy Maltz and writer Suzie Boss have combined their talents in this new book about women's sexual fantasies. Together they explore the origins of women's most private thoughts, the most common fantasy roles for women, and how sexual fantasies may function to enhance one's sex life. Wendy Maltz's capacity as one of our country's leading experts with respect to healing from past sexual abuse is also reflected in this book. Chapters on how to recognize fantasy traps and heal or even change unwanted fantasies provide individuals with important insights and tools to alter disturbing fantasies. Finally, the authors offer advice on how to share fantasies with your lover and how to create new fantasies.
I found this book remarkable as it addresses an important issue in a very matter of fact way. Once again, it becomes clear how diverse women's sexualities are. The authors provide a logical framework for different fantasy styles by separating sexual fantasies into two broad categories, 1) scripted fantasies which may contain scripted plots and identifiable characters versus 2) unscripted fantasies with a primary focus on sensations rather that character roles. These two categories are by no means exclusive. In fact, many women draw from both in order to make up their personal fantasies.

Different women have different modes for getting sexually aroused, and while some prefer visual stimulation, others may find that auditory, tactile, olfactory, kinesthetic (related to body movement) or flavor stimuli are important ingredients to trigger sexual arousal. Maltz and Boss conclude: "…Sex therapists have recognized for years that fantasy can be an effective aid in helping women with sexual performance. They have frequently recommended the use of fantasies to boost sexual response, sort of like a vibrator of mind…The beauty of fantasy is that we can tap this wellspring of creativity at any time, in any place, with no one else privy to our thoughts…"

I very much agree that sexual fantasies are private thoughts, which do not necessarily have to be shared with others. For those who choose to share their fantasies with a partner for sexual enrichment, the authors offer sound advice on how to best accomplish this and they provide various guidelines for how to enact fantasies while honoring each other's limits.

In conclusion, I can highly recommend Private Thoughts to anyone, female or male, who wants to learn more about the power of women's sexual fantasies.

Real analysis based on legitimate research.......1998-06-27

For anyone suspicious that Nancy Friday's dated My Secret Garden lacked legitimate research and analysis, this new book is a welcome resource. It gives the reader more than just summaries of women's fantasies--although obviously you cannot write this book without describing them. But this book goes on to show how to use those fantasies.

Serpents in the Garden: Liaisons With Culture & Sex (Counterpunch Anthology)

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Serpents in the Garden: Liaisons With Culture & Sex (Counterpunch Anthology)

Manufacturer: AK Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1902593944

Book Description

The latest in the award-winning Counterpunch series detonates an explosion of voracious, opinionated and witty fireworks on the unexpected intersections of politics, art, music, architecture and sex.

In addition to 13 essays by Cockburn and St. Clair-dissecting everything from Angelina Jolie's connections to sex, death and the French Revolution to their famous "best books of the last 100 years." Serpents in the Garden showcases essays from the nation's most exciting and radical cultural critics-including music historian Bruce Jackson, historian Peter Linebaugh, Lenni Brenner, scriptwriter Ben Tripp, blues pianist David Vest, sex therapist Susan Block, JoAnn Wypijewski, folklorist Susan Davis, Ron Jacobs, Susan Martinez and Andrew Cockburn.

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My Secret Garden
Nancy Friday
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0671648055

Average customer rating:

And now for something *completely* different...
Entertaining, Informative, Very Readable, and Quite Useful
fantastic!
very amusing - a great gift

Sex in Your Garden
Angela Overy
Manufacturer: Fulcrum Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

ASIN: 1555913350

Customer Reviews:

And now for something *completely* different..........2001-08-11

This slick little piece combines the principals of successful advertising with the sensual allure of professional-quality botanical photography. The basic principal being "Sex Sells." I'm not sure I could reasonably recommend this as an educational primer --although some of this information did show up on my Bio 101 lab tests-- but it's certainly an eye-opener as a coffee-table book!

Basically, this book is a "how and why" book on plant reproduction spiced up with advertising's finest babe and hunk shots to illustrate general concepts. It does a fine job of portraying the plants in your garden as wild and raunchy, not to mention absolutely unscrupulous in the pursuit of their goals. The author, Angela Overy, is absolutely shameless in her presentation --although, for the record, she does not cross the line into pornography: The occasional bras advertisement, and a strategically placed lily on page 47, but nothing worse than what you might see between the covers of Cosmopolitan.

The book, by the way, is more an overview of propagation strategies than a detailed analysis of physiology. She does go through the naming of parts and the basics of sexual maturation in plants, but then veers off into the politics of inter-species cooperation. Namely, how plants blackmail, bribe, and proposition birds, bees, beetles, ants, slugs, and butterflies (to name a few) in order to ensure successful cross pollination.

This book covers quite a bit of ground in its own irreverent way. It's got some interesting pictures depicting the color perceptions of several common pollinators, some very interesting material on Plan B strategies for pollination, and whole lot of really fascinating trivia. The juxtaposition of perceptions about plants and human sexuality is definitely attention grabbing, but it's the captions, which range from frankly informative to ludicrously suggestive, that make this book worth the cover price.

Entertaining, Informative, Very Readable, and Quite Useful.......2001-06-08

I just got a copy of this book, Sex in Your Garden, and I have been pleasantly surprised. There is a huge amount of interesting factual material in it. It is a bit bold for some folks, no doubt, but it is all actually in good taste. I think that this book could be excellent as a way to introduce younger students to the whole idea of sex and plants, or plant sexuality if you will. This subject is one that needs to be understood much better than it is now. Unlike most botany texts on the subject, this one is in plain English and it is fun to read. Hard core plant scientists may object to its tone and some of the wording, but I don't think it was intended for them in the first place. I expect that this book would be a good tool for getting students from grade 7-12 interested in some basic botany. Actually though, it would be informative for all of us "grown ups" too. I'm the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, from Ten Speed Press, and am especially interested in plant sexuality as it relates to allergies. I'd have to say this book is much better than I expected and I that learned quite a bit from it myself. The drawings and photos are first rate too. All in all, Sex in Your Garden is a very useful, informative, fun book. I highly recommend it! Thomas Leo Ogren

fantastic!.......2000-02-18

This book is a riot! I never knew there was so much - and so varied - sex going on in a garden. I hated botany in school because it seemed boring. But reading this book was so much fun - it made learning interesting and downright hilarious. The pictures and illustrations are fantastic and funny too. I'm not even a gardener but I loved reading this. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to have a some good clean/dirty fun and learn something to boot. It also makes a great gift - I gave it to several friends and they all thought it was fantastic too!

very amusing - a great gift.......1998-06-15

This is an amusingly written book with a catchy title. I much enjoyed the way the author writes tonge-in-cheek about plant reproduction and relating it, indirectly, to human. The illustrations and photographs are of high quality and add much to the effectiveness of the book. The content seems to me to be well researched and scientifically accurate but the treatment is light hearted. This would make an excellent gift for anyone interested in gardens and gardening.

The Illustrated Perfumed Garden: A Sensuous Paradise Where Erotic Love Grows and Blooms

Average customer rating:

Best book for visual ideas

The Illustrated Perfumed Garden: A Sensuous Paradise Where Erotic Love Grows and Blooms
Sheik Nefzawi , Jan Hutchinson , Kirsty McKenzie , and Ken Brass
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

The Perfumed Garden of the Shaykh Nefzawi
The Illustrated Kama Sutra : Ananga-Ranga and Perfumed Garden - The Classic Eastern Love Texts
The Complete Kama Sutra : The First Unabridged Modern Translation of the Classic Indian Text

ASIN: 0732256348

Customer Reviews:

Best book for visual ideas.......2003-01-04

I have read this book and My girlfriend and I enjoyed trying all of the positions and ideas. It explains with being too eastern sounding. Can't praise this book enough.

The Perfumed Garden: Based on the Original Translation by Sir Richard Burton

Average customer rating:

Still unknown classic text

The Perfumed Garden: Based on the Original Translation by Sir Richard Burton
Philip Dunn
Manufacturer: Hamlyn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Rich in evocative stories, commentaries on proper sexual etiquette, and breathtaking erotic illustrations from the Mughal period in India, this modern-day interpretation of a classic 16th century Persian text is a stimulating guide to the pleasures and techniques of lovemaking. Inside, lovers will find illuminating discussions of erotic principles, explicit instructions, and a plenitude of suggestions for increasing their enjoyment. Every gorgeous page helps couples enhance their sexual fulfillment, live out their fantasies, and deepen their love for each other. Just like the Kama Sutra, this beautiful volume offers a garden of delights

Customer Reviews:

Still unknown classic text.......2007-09-03

This is basically the Persian Kama Sutra, although it is probably even more comprehensive in scope, covering many aspects of lovemaking, not just the positions.

This is the edition and translation by Sir Richard Burton (not to be confused with the recent actor), who was a renowned 19th century explorer, Arabic linguist, and sword expert. I'm more familiar with his famous book on sword types and history, which is one of the best ever written. I am a sword instructor myself, and found his book invaluable in extending my own knowledge of some of the other traditions, I being mainly a Chinese and Japanese stylist.

Cheikh Nafzaouwi (not sure of the original spelling anymore, so I apologize in advance for that) intended this book to be useful as a practical manual for any man in his sex life, and, considering it was written in the 16th century, it just goes to show you that not much has changed when it comes to sex.

Some of the sections are downright funny, such as the chapter that begins with all the Arabic terms and descriptions for the different personalities or "types of vulvas." They are described in words such as (I forget the Arabic terms, but anyway, the definition is the funny part): "This is the vulva of a woman who has not had intercourse in a long time. It will not allow you to withdraw until you have entered it again and again." Other names translate as "the great one," and "the playful one." There are other even funnier descriptions, which I don't recall right now, but anyway, this will give you some idea of what they're like.

Anyway, this book is entertaining if only for some of the choicer sections such as the above.

The Erotic Word: Sexuality, Spirituality, and the Bible

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Insightful and Scholarly

The Erotic Word: Sexuality, Spirituality, and the Bible
David M. Carr
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0195156528

Book Description

Historically, the Bible has been used to drive a wedge between the spirit and the body. In this provocative book, David Carr argues that it can--and should--do just the opposite. Sexuality and spirituality, Carr contends, are intricately interwoven: when one is improverished, the other is warped. As a result, the journey toward God and the life-long engagement with our own sexual embodiment are inseparable. Humans, the Bible tells us, both male and female, were created in God's image, and eros--a fundamental longing for connection that finds abstract good in the pleasure we derive from the stimulation of the senses--is a central component of that image. The Bible, particularly the Hebrew Bible, affirms erotic passion, both eros between humans and eros between God and humans. In a sweeping examination of the sexual rules of the Bible, Carr asserts that Biblical "family values" are a far cry from anything promoted as such in contemporary politics. He concludes that passionate love--our preoccupaton therewith and pursuit thereof--is the primary human vocation, that eros is in fact the flavoring of life.

Customer Reviews:

Insightful and Scholarly.......2003-03-30

"The Erotic Word" by David Carr is an insightful and scholarly book which every student of the Bible should have in his library. It is so well written that even I, a layman, found it captivating and an easy read. Don't miss it!

Ellie Emrich
San Diego

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