Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History

The family of animals known as mammals are so named because they are the only creatures on earth that have mammary glands with which to feed their young. Of the mammals, humans are unique as we have the only mammary glands that extend from the body from the time of puberty onward. All other species in the mammal family have mammary glands that extend and become engorged for the purpose of lactation following pregnancy, but they also retract when lactation ceases and the infant is weaned. Why humans have this feature is a serious area of research and there is much debate over how this development evolved. Some scientists believe it had a sexual purpose, while other scientists believe it had a distinctly functional purpose. The author examines both schools of thought and provides information from both.Following the examination of the development of breasts, the author reviews the biology and functioning of breasts. Descended from sweat glands, it would appear from the outside that breasts are fairly simple apparatus that become functional following pregnancy and then returned to dormancy. However, the breasts are extremely complicated organs and one of the least studied organs in the human body. While we know a fair amount, there is a great deal that has yet to be discovered about the workings of the breast. Biologists are working on a continual basis to try to unlock the secrets of the breast, and with luck will be able to do so at some time in the future. Even breast milk itself is little understood, there are literally tens of thousands of components of breast milk, yet only a relatively few have actually been identified.Moving on from the biology of the breast, the author examines the issue of breast augmentation and its effect on the health of women who partake of this practice. Beginning with the development of silicone as a breast enhancement material, the author follows advances in breast enhancement technology, as well as the pit falls. She also discusses a San Francisco woman who made a career out of her giant, enormous breasts. She wanted to see the effects that breast augmentation have had on her through the years. It is a relatively young medical field, yet breast augmentation has become one of the most common surgical procedures, with thousands done every year. Even though there is a high rate of complication, women continue to flock to surgeons have breast augmentation done.The author finishes out with the final chapters on the effects of chemical pollutants and the role of estrogen and progesterone play in disease development. She examines a number of chemicals to explore what, if any, affect they have on both breast tissue and on the nursing infant. We know that a number of chemicals are passed on through breast milk, but we don't know what effect that has. In addition, we do not know the true facts of prolonged estrogen and progesterone exposure to breast tissue, particularly after the period of menopause. The examination of chemical pollutants and hormones leads to an examination of the state of breast cancer research and where we are at in the fight to prevent breast cancer. It is amazing how little we currently know about the causes of breast cancer and what we can do to prevent it in the future.In writing a book of this nature, it would be easy for the author to fall into one of several traps. The first would be to write a scientific tome loaded with data and statistics, as well as biological information that would be better suited for a medical journal rather than a general circulation book on the subject of human breasts. The other would be to write a book that contains titillating, sophomoric humor. The author does a fine job of walking the narrow line between being overly biological and overly sophomoric. She presents the information in an easy, understandable way and the book is actually a pleasure to read and fairly difficult to put down. She doesn't shy away from the occasional joke, but they are always in good taste and are actually rather funny.I would highly recommend this book to all women as an owner's manual. It contains a great deal of information that women should know about the state of breast cancer research, as well as breast self-examination and how the breast actually functions. I would also highly recommend it to any male who has a female in his life. Many men tend to think of the breast as little more than sexual objects, yet they are complicated and fascinating organs in the human body. If men knew how complicated the breast was, they would probably give it a great deal more respect.

In Western culture, at least, breasts play a curious role. Despite existing primarily for feeding babies, breasts have been sexualized and fetishized. However, in Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History, the author takes a more serious look at breasts and their role in human development and how modern lifestyles may be contributing to breast cancer.One of the first subjects explored in the book is the evolutionary history and why human breasts look so different from mammary glands in other mammals. The difference may be attributable to the shape of the human head. With a larger brain and a changing shape, nipples had to protrude further from the mother's chest so a baby could feed and breathe at the same time. Thus, human breasts evolved to be large during a woman's entire adult life, unlike other mammals which only expand while lactating. The author points this out in how the development of breasts is so interconnected with overall human development and intelligence.Another thing looked at is the often bizarre history of breast implants. According to the book, breast augmentation is the most popular voluntary surgery performed in the United States.Breast feeding and breast milk are also explained such as how complicated and important the makeup of milk is. She also compares milk to formula and how changing opinions caused a severe drop in the percentage of mothers breast feeding in the mid-twentieth century and how later on women were instead encouraged to breast feed again.A good portion of the book is spent looking at breast diseases, especially cancer, and how a changing environment and culture may be altering how breasts develop in young girls. The author notes how girls are beginning to develop breasts earlier in industrialized countries. She also notes how the number of breast cancer cases is also increasing. Some reasons why are explored including a more modern lifestyle, number of children and pregnancies, and exposure to modern products which contain chemicals whose effects are not entirely known.A whole chapter of the book is dedicated at looking at the rare male form of breast cancer. Men are susceptible to breast cancer because all men have a small amount of (undeveloped) breast tissue for the same reason they have nipples.My only real criticism of the book is that in some sections where the author looks at various chemicals and everyday products with such chemicals seems at times alarmist and the author comes off as rather anxious over it. The long-winded lists of chemicals and various statistics also seemed rather out-of-place at times.I mostly enjoyed this book because it was a mostly serious look at a subject that is too often appreciated for the wrong reasons. I would recommend this book to those with a casual interest in biology or physiology.

Florence Williams is to be commended for writing a thoroughly readable, well-researched text on the human breast. Breasts is an insightful compendium comprising 14 fascinating chapters recounting from babyhood to aged adulthood everything every woman should know about her own body.Florence Williams writes of the development of women's breasts from the first gentle flush of adolescence, to the full blown potential for feeding a child. The intricate web of veins and milk ducts is magical, and Williams ensures that the reader can gain a clear and readily comprehendible insight into the way nature programmes human breast construction. Breasts provides valuable insights for women with healthy, well-breasts, for those suffering breast cancer and its aftermath, and for those who are dissatisfied with what nature has endowed them.Women contemplating surgical enhancement (sic) of their own breast, and those even considering gifting a plastic surgery operation to their daughters as a 16th birthday or graduation present should hesitate - permanently - before doing so. Read Breasts first.

This is an enormously informative and very topical book, and Florence Williams writes with considerable style and wit. I highly recommend it to any lay reader interested in the human body, especially males. Guys, it is surprising what you will learn.....But there are, I think, plenty of surprises for women readers as well. Williams grabs your attenion with her opening sentence which strings together 8 or 9 of the more popular synomyms for the female breast. But you'll soon discover that titillation is not the aim of the chapter, or even the sentence. Williams aim is to explore the female breast and why it "turns both babies and grown men into lunkheads." The first chapter sets the pace with a cracking discussion of breast implants (you'll wonder why anyone ever thought that was a good idea after finishing that one!) and then tackles the myriad of health issues surrounding this defining part of the female anatomy, and how much we still don't know about its form and function. Smoothly written with great sympathy for the subject as well as gentle humour, this is perhaps the best non-fiction I've read this year.

This book exposes the complexity of biological processes with care and detail but also a lightness of touch which makes it very approachable. It also addresses one of the more complex organs of the body and recounts many of the changing functions of the breast over time and through major events like pregnancy. This is important stuff, much of which is relatively new science and it is areal pleasure to have access to it in such a lucid form. It is also quite thought provoking. I still wonder if our whole reproductive and baby feeding system has been developed to allow the continuing life of our stomach bacteria so that their colonies can survive our deaths as their hosts.

The book really explores the breast in a wide variety of ways, as it progresses it focuses more on breast cancer and its quite interesting in its own right but there is a real lack of structure, each chapter just seemed abit random. Otherwise it seems failry well researched and orthodox.

Silly jokes aside, this is a fascinating account of an organ that is rarely studied and unique in that it develops in adulthood. It is extremely vulnerable to environmental factors detailed in the book. Worth reading for both men and women.