Product Description

By turns uproarious and touching, the memoir of a young woman's search for an orgasm—and for the elusive connections between sex and love

Twenty-six-year-old Mara Altman wanted to know what all the screaming was about. She'd lost her virginity at seventeen; grown up in southern California with sexually free parents; had lovers in India, Burma, and Peru; and spent a year in Bangkok observing all manner of depravity. And yet she was an attractive, successful, single woman in New York who'd never had an orgasm.

And so she embarked on a wildly funny, emotionally resonant odyssey—a journey both inside and outside herself—only to discover that, for Mara, orgasm was connected to a part of her that no vibrator could reach. Thanks for Coming is one woman's look at our obsession with and anxiety over the female orgasm. Her quest to get her own yields poignant results that will surprise even the sexually awakened among us. From sex shows to sex conventions, from a therapist's couch to her own couch, from the bedroom to the bar, Mara Altman proves to be a guide as hilarious as she is investigative.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #369590 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-01
• Released on: 2009-04-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author

Mara Altman received her M.S. in journalism from Columbia University in 2005. A former staff writer at the Village Voice, she has also written for the New York Times and New York. She lives in Brooklyn.

Customer Reviews

You're Welcome
Often hilariously funny but with a lot of very serious and thoughtful points to make, this is not a "sex book," but I can safely say it's the best book about sex I've ever read. It's about much more than that, too, though - self-image and self-consciousness, relationships, intimacy, expectations, and just plain compelling stories. Altman has a terrific voice and is a brave writer - she doesn't shy away from anything - and the result is a really great read.

should be required reading for all
Seriously. Every female would have their life changed by reading this book. And men would finally lean something about women if they gave this book a shot. This is not a sleezy sex book. This is a journey toward discovering ones one self that all of us could only dream of having the guts to go on. Fortunately for us, we can learn a lot from Mara's incrediably brave journey. And it not all self-reflection and sex education. This book is damn funny and highly addicting. I could not put this book down. I think my boyfriend started to get worried.
Do the world a favor everyone, read this book!!!

success

there is nothing inevitable about reaching climax, nor about this book succeeding.

and yet, through equal parts self-reflection, scientific investigation, and sociocultural analysis, it succeeds triumphantly.

yum.