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.

It is written in an easy flowing manner but has a zillion interesting bits of info, some funny, some amazing, some worrisome. Did you know that breast milk contains 100 to 600 different types of bacteria and that fact has just been recently discovered ( no one ever looked, just assumed it was sterile). That breats are the only organ that do not have their own specialty even though they are responsible for the survival of mankind? That there are lots and lots of stem cells in colostrum and they are not sure what they are for but they think breast milk might be the future of treatment for aids and cancers? That breasts are canary in the coal mine when it comes to toxins and that american women have the highest level of toxins in their breasts of any other country and a lot of these toxins are very concentrated forms of estrogen mimickers - we are doing a grand experiment on our children, especially are female children. MOST of these toxins are from PLASTICS BPA (and others) yet children's most children's toys contain these substances. Also great discussions on developing breast cancer - even if you do not have kids - or especially if you do not, or had them late in life, this is good to know about. There is also the anthropology of breasts where lots of researchers spend time and money trying to prove that breasts evolved to attract mates (who cares about the milk, nobody wanted to study that!). Or the marketing of breasts where plastic surgeons and implant manufactures wash each others hands with tons of money via marketing. My favorite line goes something like Jesus may have turned water into wine but women trans-substantiate blood into milk everyday in every country. Anyway it is way educational, informative, interesting and fun to read ( a bit scarey in parts ). I am thinking about semi purging plastics from my life, but that is of course impossible. But I can remove lots of them. We can also pass this book on and get some momentum going to have our government pay attention. Many other countries have already banned a lot of these plastic components.

The author discusses a very serious subject, in that most of book is devoted to breast cancer and its primary cause according to her which is carcinogens in the environment. Yet she approaches her subject in a humorous manner from the first page, beginning with, "We love breasts, yet we can't take them seriously. We name them affectionately, but with a bit of insult. They can turn both babies and grown men into lunkheads." She begins with a history of how and why breasts developed in lower order primates, which was originally to confer immunity to offspring from pathogens. She even has a theory that the transmission of culture occurs from the bonding between mother and child during breast feeding. Yet she easily slips back and forth between information and humor as in discussing the fat percentage of milk in various species as with the seal which has the highest fat content [50%] of any mammal, to which she adds. " a stiff wind could turn that into butter." The book is filled with hundreds of informative and often amusing facts relating to breasts and breast feeding, as: 1. the average female breast weighs about 454 grams or one pound 2. the largest breasts created through augmentation were a size 38KKK and weighed approximately 21 pounds each with a volume equal to approximately 2.6 gallons. 3. the left breast is about 9% larger in most women, but one is always about that much bigger 4. the average nipple has 12 orifices 5. Timmie Jean Lindsay was the first recipient of a breast transplant in 1962. She was still alive at the time the book was written at age 79 and still had her original transplants. The story of how she got them is cute so I won't spoil that part. 6. a stripper in TX had her implants for a period of time long enough to have the silicone harden. In a dispute with a partner she was shot in the chest but had the bullet deflected off her hardened implants saving her life. 7. human breast milk sells for 4.00/ounce 8. the breast is composed of three types of things: glandular tissue, fat cells, and stroma. The % of fat increases with age, making the breast tissue less dense. This section of the book is also quite informative and more detailed than the minor fact I just mentioned. All in all a very informative and well written humor book on the subject, which is not to minimize the author's quite serious attempt to make her feelings known that she is a proponent of the belief that man-made environment carcinogens are a major cause of breast cancer which is the primary theme of the book. Well worth the read on several levels.

First of all I am a 64 1/2 yr old man with a 62 year old wife. That said, This is a must read by every woman in the USA if not the world who can read English. It should also be read by all men who are interested in their mother's, wife's, daughter's, sister's, niece's etc. breast health (i.e. breast cancer). I have given this book to my midwife sister-in-law in Kindle format. I have ordered this book to _give_ to my female holistic counselor who I pay $120/hr to help me cope with MY problems. I am hoping SHE uses this for herself and with her female clients! I am trying to get my wife to read my e-book edition. If she won't I'll buy her a hardcopy. This book has information that is useful for a young girl who is about to enter puberty, for a woman considering getting pregnant, for a woman who in pregnant, for a woman who has one or more children. for a woman who is in peri-menopause, for a woman who is in menopause, for a woman who is considering breast augmentation surgery. AND, believe or not, for the fathers, husbands and even brothers of each of these groups of women. I cannot remember exactly how I came to buy and read this e-book. It was probably via the "People who ordered this book also ordered" 'these similar books' enticer. But I am glad I did. Now I am trying to spread the news of this book like I spread the Gospel or even more so to be honest since breast cancer seems to have become more prevalent in the area where I live (DFW) in the last 20 years. This a very important book for girls and women of today considering what we are putting into the air and water here in the United States. While I am a leg man, (go legs that are smoothly shapely, especially at the knees and ankles) I still appreciate nice breasts. Read Proverbs 5:18-19. Thank goodness the wife of my youth (married 37.5 yrs) has glorious breasts because her legs are not that good. And I love her still.

Very interesting, though somewhat scary thinking about how much of our industrial revolution is affecting our bodies without us really knowing what it will do to us. She spent the first few chapters talking a lot about the theories behind the evolution of breasts, and then a bit talking about breasts implants. Those chapters were a bit long to me. The rest though was really interesting. There are some interesting studies out there now looking at and trying to understand the toxicities entering our bodies. I'd never heard much about flame retardants and had no idea how prevalent they were. She also looked at some interesting studies about pros and cons to breast feeding, pregnancies at different periods of a women's life, the changing age of puberty, and how many of this seems to potentially affect breast cancer. All in all an interesting book for both women and men interesting in learning more about the potential affects of our current culture on our bodies.

Breasts: a Natural and Unnatural History by Florence Williams is an important book. What woman doesn't have a friend or family member who has gotten breast cancer? Florence Williams answers all the questions you might have had about breasts and many you could never have imagined. One out of eight women in the United States will get breast cancer. Women today are getting the disease at a far younger age than previous generations. This book is a must-read for every woman ... and man. There is even a chapter about Camp LeJeune where marines drank polluted water and developed breast cancer. Williams also investigates early puberty in girls and how it may affect them as women. I especially enjoyed Chapter 6 on, as the author switched from the past to the present and future, reporting on the latest theories and possible causes. I learned that young women who breastfeed their children are protected by pregnancy hormones, while women, who choose to bear babies later in life, run a higher risk, and that a new 3D detection test is under development. I met biologists like David Newburg, who studies breast milk in an attempt to duplicate some of the benefits, "the Nutrasweet for the survival set, the mysterious stuff of breast purified into a paper packet." I was pleased to have the author confirm my theory on the danger toxic chemicals in the environment pose to human health and shared her dismay that government agencies are not doing more to protect us. "Perhaps it's time, say many activists, to look deeper into chemical exposures, especially since damning evidence in animals and in occupational studies is slowly mounting," writes Williams. If you suspected many breast cancers are environmental in origin, here is confirmation. Williams writing style was, at times, a bit flippant for my taste, given the gravity of the subject. Still, I recommend giving this book to every woman you care about. The author's extensive research may cause them to make some lifestyle changes and live longer.

Everyone who has breasts or ever had them should read this book. I'm lucky both of mine are still healthy, and I'm fascinated by the depth of Williams' research. She obviously spent years on discovery, and traveled the world to bring us, people with breasts and people who care about breasts, the latest and best information on boobs. From their evolution to their destiny, augmentation to density, she covers all bases, and delivers quite sobering information in a light voice. Her clever vocabulary makes more palatable the grim news about environmental risks, childhood exposures, and other things we can do nothing about. I was going to finish the book before writing a review but after laughing out loud for the two pages near the end where she describes learning to do a proper BSE (breast self exam), I had to stop right now and write this. Over the course of her research, she subjected herself and her bodily fluids to all manner of tests. She doles out the tests gradually through the book, and reveals the results with good-natured resignation. Every test has a complex context which she makes comprehensible, though understanding its implications can be horrifying. This is another, and maybe the most important yet, sequel to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Williams reveals how far down the chemical toilet our world has gone since Carson's first warning bell fifty years ago, and makes an excellent case for the female human breast being the canary in the mine that might save us eventually. Or not.