Featured in The Wall Street Journal’s “10 Books to Read: The Best Reviews of July”
The Times (UK)’s Best Books of 2021
Bloomberg Opinion’s 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021
“[C]lear-eyed, crisply written...[T] entertains as it educates...[and Hooven] circles back to her own story, speaking to us intimately, casting her intellectual journey in a luminous chiaroscuro...Her book confronts ugly truths about male behavior, but also seeks to reintroduce nuance into our discourse by enlarging our grasp of the biological processes shaped by testosterone. T is a gorgeous culmination of an odyssey both professional and personal.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Hooven makes a compelling case that T is a powerful influence on our bodies and brains…As the final chapter of [T] argues, it’s hard to make a start on…social improvements if we don’t fully understand why things are the way they are. Clear-eyed books like this, which mercifully avoid culture-war partisanship, are a great start on that particular quest.”
—The Times of London
“[A] clear, accessible, and accurate review of major themes in the human testosterone literature…thought-provoking and informative.”
—Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
“One of the most compelling books on human behavior I’ve ever read, T is a scientific mystery story told with insight, intelligence, and panache.”
—Daniel Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of the New York Times bestseller Stumbling on Happiness
“Hooven’s review of what testosterone does and does not do is science-writing at its best: intriguing, personal, bold, persuasive, and most importantly, transparent. Her gripping account will fascinate, whether you’re a teenager in the throes of puberty or are just curious about the nature of sex and gender—one of the most important debates of our time.”
—Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox
“With all the talk about testosterone in sex, sports, and politics, we need a good explanation of the science and its implications, and this one is outstanding.”
—Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of How the Mind Works and Enlightenment Now
“Filled with fascinating—often astounding—insights, T takes us on a journey from the discovery of this powerful hormone, to its effects throughout the animal kingdom, to a crucial understanding of how it shapes human minds, bodies, and behavior. Hooven is a compelling and compassionate guide, and T is a book we need now.”
—Emily Yoffe, journalist and former “Dear Prudence” at Slate
“T is the story of the most famous, most misunderstood, and most maligned chemical in our bodies: testosterone. A fascinating, brave, and brilliant book—the best I’ve read on the topic.”
—Steve Stewart-Williams, author of The Ape that Understood the Universe
“A superb and engaging book that delivers the unfiltered truth about testosterone, sex and sex differences, told with clarity and compassion. T conveys a deep understanding about the hidden power of testosterone in our lives, but also teaches us how scientific knowledge exposes harmful misconceptions and helps us become more humane.”
—Daniel E. Lieberman, author of Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding
“With wit, warmth, and a touch of motherly love, Hooven lucidly lays out a formidable scientific case for how and why the sexes are different. Boldly confronting contemporary gender issues, T speaks directly to why getting human nature right matters for making the world a better place.”
—Joe Henrich, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and author of The WEIRDest People in the World and The Secret of Our Success
“Dr. Carole Hooven has written the definitive book on testosterone…[which] examines testosterone from every possible angle…If we can educate ourselves about ‘T,’ according to Hooven, then the unfiltered truth about the impact of testosterone and the differences between the sexes will add to our knowledge-base and help us create a better society.”
—Evening Standard
“We need to be more accepting...Human beings are slow to learn, and it takes us a long time for us to adopt all this information and adapt...We need more examples like you. You're raw, and you're open, and you're confident enough to be vulnerable...It was a great conversation. I've never cried more.”
—Joe Rogan, The Joe Rogan Experience
“Truly one of the most remarkable and fascinating books that I’ve come across in a long time…Carole is that rare scientist who is able to take sometimes complicated and technical information and make it all understandable.”
—Danielle Crittenden, The Femsplainers Podcast
“This is a smart, balanced, interesting, humane, and rigorous book that pulls no punches. It helps us understand better the relations between men and women, homosexuality, transgenderism—all aspects of our lives.”
—Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish
“It's a good narrative, not just an academic book, but I like that you get into the nitty gritty of the science.”
—Razib Khan, Unsupervised Learning
“[T]imely and intriguing…[T investigates] the ancient question of nature vs. nurture, and Hooven walks a fine line between the two…popular science likely to excite academic debate on sex and gender.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Hooven separates testosterone fact from fiction in her comprehensive debut…[S]he takes readers to high-tech labs and on a day of ‘chimping’ in Uganda’s Kibale forest—and her writing is refreshingly free of jargon. The result is an approachable introduction to an often misunderstood aspect of human biology.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[Hooven] deftly details the tremendous impact of testosterone…[and t]he complex interplay between genes, hormones, social environment, and experience makes us who we are…Hooven effectively counters erroneous or misleading assertions about testosterone, a hormone so culturally familiar to most of us that it's frequently designated by a single letter.”
—Booklist
“[Hooven’s] insight into evolutionary biology and human behavior will be valuable not only to scientists but to anyone interested in social change…A provocative, academic, accessible look at the science behind human behavior.”
—Library Journal
“Employing evolutionary biology, endocrinology, and good storytelling, Hooven lays out how testosterone works, why it works as it does it, and what the consequences are...Where a careful reading and understanding of the best evidence leads, Hooven follows.”
—Philosophy Blog
“Hooven makes her case for the importance of T with a humility, humor, and grace not often seen in our cultural battles these days.”
—Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg Opinion
“Carole Hooven, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard, explains for the general reader the effects of this hormone in making us male or female, in triggering puberty, and in relation to sexual behaviors both heterosexual and homosexual…[M]easured and thoughtful.”
—Longview News-Journal
“[A] vivid study.”
—Nature
“Testosterone (T) is the hormone we love to hate, and recently there’s been a lot of hate…Thankfully, relevant experts have stepped up to the plate to right many of those wrongs, including Carole Hooven.”
—Reason Magazine
“I can recommend Carole’s book—it’s great.”
—Jim Davies, Minding the Brain
05/10/2021
Evolutionary biologist Hooven separates testosterone fact from fiction in her comprehensive debut. While testosterone is commonly viewed as “the essence of masculinity,” both men and women produce the hormone, Hooven writes, and learning about it can be “satisfying, empowering, and even fun.” She surveys how society has long manipulated traits influenced by testosterone, such as by castration, used on animals to control farmyard breeding and, historically, to keep male voices high for choirs. (More recently, she writes, the hormone has been used in dubious supplements intended to fight aging and increase sexual potency.) Hooven also explores testosterone’s effects on aggression, and her consideration of its impact on athletic performance is provocative: apart from age and health status, she writes, “only T draws such a clear and consistent line between large groups of people who differ in athletic ability.” The scope of Hooven’s research is impressive—she takes readers to high-tech labs and on a day of “chimping” in Uganda’s Kibale forest—and her writing is refreshingly free of jargon. The result is an approachable introduction to an often misunderstood aspect of human biology. (July)
07/01/2021
In this era of open discussion of sexual violence, testosterone is facing public scrutiny. Hooven's (human evolutionary biology, Harvard Univ.) new book sets out to investigate whether male aggression can be definitively linked to testosterone, or if the social norms of patriarchal societies have more impact than biology. Hoover brings to this discourse her background in natural sciences and her studies in biological anthropology. She has written a thorough and interesting assessment of the science behind testosterone and human behavior; topics include biological determination of sex, effects of testosterone in athletes, and testosterone's use in gender-affirming treatment for some trans people. In addition to the science, Hooven provides cultural context, including personal narratives from people who have transitioned, as well as one person who has detransitioned; she lets people tell their stories in their own words, allowing for a more complete picture. Hooven encourages readers to approach this information through an evidence-based lens and to question their own judgments. Her insight into evolutionary biology and human behavior will be valuable not only to scientists but to anyone interested in social change. VERDICT A provocative, academic, accessible look at the science behind human behavior, suitable for those interested in natural and social sciences.—Cate Triola, Capella Univ., Minneapolis
2021-04-22
An exploration of the hormone that makes men do strange things while keeping the species going.
“Testosterone is present in our blood in minute quantities,” writes Hooven, co-director of undergraduate studies in the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard. “Both sexes produce it, but men have ten to twenty times as much as women.” She continues, “if the Y chromosome is the essence of maleness, then T is the essence of masculinity, at least in the popular mind.” That popular-mind aspect plunges the author into timely and intriguing yet eminently debatable territory, as she’s left to address such matters as biological determinism, the question of whether there are truly sex differences, and what role testosterone plays in sexual violence and aggressiveness of other kinds. Much of this boils down to the ancient question of nature vs. nurture, and Hooven walks a fine line between the two. Carefully, she notes how our now-well-developed scientific understanding of the biochemistry of testosterone does not mean that “we have to accept current levels of sexual assault, harassment, discrimination, or coercion.” The author privileges definitions of sex while not giving much breathing room for contending notions of gender. Exploring the question of why the play of boys and girls is different, “it is a remarkable and unexplained coincidence that social forces have exactly reproduced the kinds of differences in play that would be predicted from endocrinology and evolution—in every human culture where they have been studied.” As for the matter of how much testosterone figures into the appallingly high levels of violence in the U.S. and elsewhere, Hooven writes, “taking arrest rates as a rough proxy for the composition of offenders, men commit 80 to 85 percent of violent crimes in the United States.” Then the author brings socialization into the picture to allow for circumstance, personality, and other non-T factors. In the end, “it’s complicated.”
Moderately interesting popular science likely to excite academic debate on sex and gender.