If men and women are equal, why have males been the dominant sex virtually throughout history? Here, geneticist Moir and BBC- TV writer-producer Jessel argue convincingly that the answer lies in the difference between the male and female brain. Writing with clarity and style, and documenting their data every step of the way, Moir and Jessel explain how the embryonic brain is shaped as either male or female at about six weeks, when the male fetus begins producing hormones that organize its brain's neural networks into a male pattern; in their absence, the brain will be female. Not surprisingly, there are endless variations in degree of maleness, and mishaps can lead to a male brain in a female body and vice versa. Moir and Jessel include a brain sex test that lets the reader discover just how masculine or feminine his (or her) brain is. For the nonscientist, they translate considerable research into the structural and organizational differences between male and female brains, demonstrating how these differences make men more aggressive and competitive and better at skills that require spatial ability and mathematical reasoning, and women more sensitive to nuances of expression and gesture, more adept at judging character. Women, it seems, are more people-oriented than men, who are more interested in things. Moir and Jessel assert that it is necessary to ``accept who we are before arguing about what we should be,'' and that denying gender differences means ignoring their value. A literate, entertaining, and, for some, surely wrath- provoking presentation of scientific data about the differences between the sexes. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

安妮•莫伊爾 （Anne Moir）

遺傳學博士，曾任英國廣播公司（BBC）製片人、加拿大廣播公司（CBC）歐洲特派編輯，並自己經營一傢影片製作公司，專門製作國際性的科學紀錄片，目前居住在英國，著有A Mind to Crime、Half the People、Why Men Don't Iron、Living with Dying等書。

戴維•傑塞爾（David Jessel）

英國BBC、LBC等廣播公司著名記者和主持人，電視節目編寫與製作人，現居倫敦和牛津郡，另著有Trial and Error一書。

譯者簡介

洪蘭

颱灣著名教育傢、加州大學實驗心理學博士、腦科學傢、颱灣第一任認知神經科學研究所所長，颱灣教育部終身學習推展委員會委員，翻譯瞭大量歐美優秀的神經科學及腦科學相關著作，並撰寫教育類雜誌專欄20年，齣版著作一直暢銷寶島。