Fine’s book is the more fun to read; the woman displays a sense of humor that deserves to be called wicked in the sense that Mary Daly would have used the word. Both are meticulously documented and eminently quotable. Be among the first to do so!

And BTW, communication and language scholars DO have a use for these books. One brief example among many I could cite: We have, most of us, let our academic colleagues and a variety of media and popular book writers get away with describing human brains as having “hard-wiring”—“wiring” that supposedly has something to do with gendered behavior. We have so let this absurd metaphor escape attention to the extent that it has taken root and found expression in respected academic publications. THIS is a language issue, and a communication issue.

We could have taken on the language without taking on the supposedly sophisticated scientists and their complex technology purportedly demonstrating the existence of differences (other than size) in “female” and “male” brains. An outpouring of our work should have followed Janet Bing’s excellent W & L piece of more than a decade ago, Brain Sex: How the Media Report and Distort Brain Research. (Women & Language, Fall 1999, Vol. 22 # 2: 4-12).

The idea that a human brain, an unbelievably complex bundle of billions of connections, could be “hard” wired for any behavior should on its face be so ludicrous it merits nothing more than laughter. That it does not demonstrates we ought to make these publications and their contents a regular part of our classroom discussions.

For more information, you can easily find reviews and discussions of both books. Fine, clearly quite media savvy, has a web page with many useful links. Check out http://www.cordeliafine.com/delusions_of_gender.html

Harvard U. Press, at http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?recid=30068 includes a small collection of reviews of the Jordan-Young book. http://beckjordanyoung.web.officelive.com/default.aspx includes a link to digitized video of a presentation by Jordan-Young at the HUP bookstore.