{"id":4336,"date":"2009-05-06T12:19:06","date_gmt":"2009-05-06T16:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=4336"},"modified":"2009-05-06T12:19:06","modified_gmt":"2009-05-06T16:19:06","slug":"the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-hard-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-hard-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to Hell Is Paved with Hard Decisions&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;badly made.<\/p>\n<p>Which is why, recently presented with these two books for review, I will probably start with the latter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Cover: How Sex Works\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/images\/cover_howsexworks_sm.jpg?resize=200%2C305&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"305\" \/>How S*x Works<\/em>, by Dr. Sharon Moalem. From the publisher [typos supplied by JES intentionally, to ward off The Wrong Sort of Internet traffic]:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p><em>Why are women biologically driven to find Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?<br \/>\nCan more s*x help ensure a safe pregnancy?<br \/>\nWhat effect does p0rn0gr@phy have on a man&#8217;s fert!l!ty?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In this compelling follow-up to the <em>New York Times<\/em> bestseller <em>Survival of the Sickest<\/em>, Dr. Sharon Moalem takes us on a trip from prehistory to the forefront of cutting-edge medical research, and through a bedroom or two, to tell the story of how human s*xuality has developed over time. <em>How S*x Works<\/em> challenges common perceptions about our bodies and provides astonishing discoveries from the frontiers of science as it traces the transformation of s*x across species and through time to its current role in human societies&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<li><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Cover: Coop\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/images\/cover_coop_sm.jpg?resize=200%2C305&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"305\" \/>Coop<\/em>, by Michael Perry. From the publisher:<\/li>\n<blockquote><p>In over his head with two pigs, a dozen chickens, and a baby due any minute, the acclaimed author of <em>Truck: A Love Story<\/em> gives us a humorous, heartfelt memoir of a new life in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Last seen sleeping off his wedding night in the back of a 1951 International Harvester pickup, Michael Perry is now living in a rickety Wisconsin farmhouse. Faced with thirty-seven acres of fallen fences and overgrown fields, and informed by his pregnant wife that she intends to deliver their baby at home, Perry plumbs his unorthodox childhood &#8212; his city-bred parents took in more than a hundred foster children while running a ramshackle dairy farm &#8212; for clues to how to proceed as a farmer, a husband, and a father&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Well, they also say that postponement toughens the soul. Something like that, anyhow. Don&#8217;t put off till tomorrow, so forth and so on. &#8220;They&#8221; &#8211;whoever they are &#8212; must be a barrel of laughs at a party.<\/p>\n<p>P.S. Seriously? I&#8217;d more likely buy <em>Coop<\/em> anyway &#8212; even though I haven&#8217;t read either one yet. (And it&#8217;s got nothing to do with virtue, God knows.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;badly made. Which is why, recently presented with these two books for review, I will probably start with the latter: How S*x Works, by Dr. Sharon Moalem. From the publisher [typos supplied by JES intentionally, to ward off The Wrong Sort of Internet traffic]: Why are women biologically driven to find Mr. Tall, Dark, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[223,266],"tags":[1203,1204,1205,1206,1207,1208],"class_list":{"0":"post-4336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-books-as-books","7":"category-book-reviews-writing_cat","8":"tag-how-sex-works","9":"tag-coop","10":"tag-sharon-moalem","11":"tag-michael-perry","12":"tag-procrastination","13":"tag-dont-postpone-joy","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-17W","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4336"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4351,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4336\/revisions\/4351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}