51 books like Bonk

I know…another Bill Bryson book? But hear me out. In this outing, Bryson doesn’t just take us readers on a trip to foreign land (he is, after all, the world’s foremost travel writer). He takes us on a trip to a foreign time—our own past!

Specifically, the 1950’s. Lots of books cover famous events from a long time ago. Few cover the mundane daily life of the more recent past—and in the process, inform us just how much has changed about how Americans live in just a few short decades.

What’s more, Bryson makes it personal—using his own childhood adventures and recollections to make the history relatable, comical, and fun. I like books that tickle my brain as well as my funny bone—and no one does it better than Bryson.

I love this book so much it made me want to write books. Seriously. This is the book that inspired me. Until I read this book (way back in 2000), I didn’t know non-fiction could be so informative, compelling, AND funny—all at once. But Bryson showed me it’s possible. Sure, he’s a witty writer. But I think Bryson’s real weapon is that he does his research.

He digs up the fascinating, bizarre, and downright unbelievable facts about his subject—in this case, the continent of Australia—then seamlessly weaves them into a compelling narrative that keeps readers looking forward to each intriguing nugget of information waiting for them to discover next. It wasn’t until the end that I realized I’d learned as much as I’d laughed.

I want to believe. Yes, like just about everyone else who has ever been a kid (so, you know, everyone), I want to think somewhere out there there’s a Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster or random chupacabra just waiting to be discovered. But even if there isn’t, I want to be told fascinating stories about the lengths people will go to to find such mystifying creatures. And no one does it better than Josh Gates.

Combining fun facts, absorbing backstories, and his trademark wit, Gates takes readers along on an unforgettable expedition through the wild—and his own lifetime of enthralling adventures.

Sure, today, we have MRIs, replacement artificial joints (even entire limbs), and medicine cabinets filled with pharmaceuticals to cure our aches and sniffles. But such wasn’t always the case. To get here, doctors once advised our forebears to apply weasels to their foreheads to relieve headaches and wear radioactive underpants to increase virility. And that’s just for starters.

I love books that shed light on the weird and winding path that led us to the present—and this one sits at the top of my list because the history is told with insight (one of the authors is a medical doctor) and charming humor. Laughter is indeed the best medicine!

Taking a more holistic approach, Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Sex explores the world of women who experience sex in the most connecting, pleasurable ways. Moving beyond mechanics, it helped me understand the importance of unlocking inhibitions, being present, and discovering my own eroticism in order to experience a deep connection with my husband. God has more for us to experience if we are open to it. 

In her compelling book, Elisabeth Lloyd examines whether or not the female orgasm is an evolutionary adaptation resulting from the process of natural selection, or rather an evolutional by-product – like male nipples.

Ms. Lloyd examines twenty-one theories that seek to promote the female orgasm as an adaptation – from the role of orgasm in helping to facilitate the pair-bonding process to upsucking and sperm-competition – and finds each and every one of them lacking.

As a sex therapist I receive emails daily from women who are unable to achieve orgasm via intercourse and wonder, "What can I do to change this? What's wrong with me?" Well if we stop thinking of female and male orgasms as something that "naturally" should result from intercourse, we can liberate both men and women from the oppressive intercourse-discourse (a belief that there's a right way to have orgasms, and simultaneous ones at that).

When I chatted with the authors about their motivation to write this book, they said that they wanted to write a book on desire that they’d feel comfortable recommending to diverse clients, as none currently existed.

I not only agree with their assessment, but I was excited to see that they accomplished their goal! As a sex therapist, I can affirm that desire is one of the most confusing and troubling issues that individuals and couples bring to therapy.

This book explains desire, normalizes desire differences, and provides an inclusive and compassionate road map to clients struggling with it. I plan to recommend this book to many clients for years to come.

I regard myself as a big fan of Dr. David Scharff, founder of the International Psychotherapy Institute, based in Bethesda, Maryland, who has become one of the planet’s most esteemed psychoanalysts.

Scharff, along with his spouse, Dr. Jill Scharff, has pioneered the field of couple psychotherapy in the United States of America. Based on his clinical insights, he has produced a lucid, groundbreaking book about the childhood and adolescent origins of the sexual complications of adulthood, which has provided me with much wisdom about the ways in which marital sexual difficulties can be traced back to earlier experiences from the prepubertal and pubertal periods of life. Although intended predominantly for fellow mental health clinicians, Scharff’s book will appeal to a very wide readership indeed. 

It introduced me to the status of women in ancient times when society worshipped the moon, a feminine deity. Women led religious rituals and they were regarded as the givers of life. By contrast, by the time of King David, man worshipped the Sun, a male deity, and women's status was lowered to become regarded as mere bearers of life.

Beyond Sexuality is the most consequential psychoanalytic intervention in queer theory.

Much of queer theory has used Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality to reject or downplay psychoanalysis. Dean argues that psychoanalysis, particularly in the writings and seminars of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, offers a far more useful theoretical model.

Such theorists as Judith Butler misconstrue sexual desire by focusing on identity, rather than language and its effects. Desire, according to psychoanalysis, does not arise from our identifications—not even our gender identifications—but from the failures of identity. Desire is not constructed in language but manifests precisely where language breaks down.

Beyond Sexuality also offers a psychoanalytic reading of HIV/AIDS in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis.