In June, Avery will publish Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Faye Flam‘s book about “how the quest for sex has shaped the modern man,” which is the latest entry in a field that’s almost becoming a genre unto itself. Call it the “Mystery” section — the fast-growing area of the bookstore devoted to books that have something to do with Neil Strauss‘s 2003 bestseller ‘The Game.’ Flam’s book isn’t another guide to seduction, though. Instead, she uses examples from throughout the natural kingdom — from praying mantises to giant squid — to explain how evolutionary science supports Strauss’s tactics. Fun! Also, depressing. Also, seriously gross. For example, about those giant squid:
“The male uses his penis like a hypodermic needle, piercing the skin on the female’s arms … since the female has no vagina. Then, with hydraulic force, the male injects her with four-inch-long tadpole-shaped “spermatophores” … the penis is about five feet long when flaccid. The end of the penis has a cartilaginous lance, the better for stabbing … sometimes the female will bite off the male’s penis or arms with her deadly beak. It may be that one or both sexes don’t survive the encounter. If human males faced these sorts of hazards, it would seem perfectly understandable that they’d gather in pickup classes and related support seminars, there to boost one another’s courage to approach the opposite sex.”