KatieMc

Breasts, I got a pair! I pretty much know their purpose: they turn men in to babies and help babies grow into toddlers. I also know they need to be squished between two metal plates once a year to screen for breast cancer. Other than that, what’s to know? Apparently lots of scary facts about how our breasts are ultra-sensitive to chemicals, pollutants and other environmental factors, and how this makes us susceptible to disease. Even worse, it raises the question that just maybe _gasp_ breast may not be best for baby. Add that that the mix of confusing information – pregnancy and nursing help protect against breast cancer, but only if you have your children young. Sheesh, what’s a girl to do? 

All scariness aside, Breasts is informative and quite readable, excellent medical journalism. It covers most everything to do with breasts including implants, fertility, nursing, development, how girls are developing at earlier and earlier ages, breasts in other mammals, hormones, breast cancer and male breast cancer (rare, but it happens, and oddly enough it may the key to understanding the role of environmental factors in the disease). She even explained why we still use 50 year old boob-smashing mammography technology today, surprise 

The only topic that she did not cover, and why I am rating this book four instead of five stars – bras! With all the scary medical related information, learning some brassiere fun facts might have been a nice respite. Do bras play any role in the long term heath of our breasts? Or is just a comfort thing? Why can women with implants go braless where naturally endowed women need support? How did cave women go about hunting and gathering braless when I can’t go running without wearing two sports bras?