Publishers Weekly
★ 09/01/2014
Comedian Amram brings her absurd brand of humor to a satirical take on science lessons “tailored for the female brain.” This mock textbook/women’s magazine hybrid makes repeated nods to Cosmopolitan magazine–style content with headlines like “Hot Reproductive Sex Tips,” “Best Gravitational Fields for Losing Weight,” and “Tips for Hosting Your Own Big Bang.” Chapters are divided by areas of scientific study; twisted facts are interspersed among raunchy references to real figures, such as Marie Curie, who Amram describes as a “real butterface” whose “husband probably did all of her work for her.” The incisive parody of misogyny continues with Amram’s assurance that women can’t drive due to their “inherently poor grasp of physics,” and a hilariously erroneous breakdown of Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments. Other bits include a spoof on a health-conscious Paula Deen cookbook featuring “Fruit Salad” made of Skittles with ranch dressing. Often vulgar and wildly inappropriate, but if that describes your brand of humor, Amram hits the funny bone in all the right spots. Color photos. (Nov.)
The A.V. Club
"Ingenious."
The Stranger
"Exceptional, and exceptionally funny."
Interrobang
"Brilliant satire."
Esquire
"One of the funniest—and most subversive—books of the year."
Boston Globe
"An exuberantly scathing takedown of the sexism lurking within the fun, flirty pages of women’s magazines...laugh-out-loud funny."
Time Out New York
"Hilarious yet cuttingly insightful."
Refinery 29
"Surreally witty."
Washington Post
"Giddily demented."
New York Magazine
"[Megan Amram] navigates many voices: deadpan, ditzy, unhinged, stone-cold tone deaf, cuttingly lucid."
People
"Why can’t women drive? Which religion is right for your body type? And what’s the deal with kale? Parks and Recreation writer Amram answers these and other very scientific questions in this satirical textbook-cum-women’s magazine. While it’s “tailored to you, ladies,” Science is a triumph that anybody with a sense of humor will appreciate."
Vanity Fair
"Causes combustive laughter."
GQ
"[Amram's] fake textbook rocks."
Wired
"Will make you laugh out loud. [Amram] also delivers a legitimate critique of sexism—with frequent detours into the absurd.
Salon
"A hilarious feminist manifesto for the modern era."
Bust
"The world's most-funny and least-helpful educational book...Demented, hilarious faux-science."
Flavorwire
It’s perfect, dada-as-hell, comedy-as-borderline art. True story: reading this book on the subway, I cackled and chuckled and laughed so hard that people gave me looks. There is also a two-page centerfold that reads KALE!!!!! in gorgeous lettering.
Gloria Steinem
If there’s one thing more important than science,technology, engineering, and math, it’s laughing!
Ellen Page
This book was fun AND informative, and just the right size for my tiny lady hands! Most books cause my hands to bruise and chafe!”—Ellen Page
Nick Offerman
I may be but a man, but Dr. Amram’s book has cottoned me to numerous new scientific hypotheses that are both fun and flirty.
Amy Poehler
Science…for Her! taught me so much. I learned fun ways to freeze my eggs. I learned the best religion for my body type. I learned the whole world is going straight to hell.
Kirkus Reviews
2014-09-09
This parody of a science textbook for women, recast in Cosmo style, has a funny concept and cover, but the text itself is so padded that more will skim it than read it. Parks and Recreation writer Amram satirizes the idea that women are incapable of understanding science by dumbing it down, drenching it in sex and lightening the textual load with a lot of graphics. The author describes herself (often) as "a fun, flirty young woman" who remains obsessed with her ex-boyfriend and details how she has wreaked her revenge on him, sexual and otherwise. "Science is hard for most people, let alone women," writes the author. "It has been demonstrated repeatedly throughout history: female brains aren't biologically constructed to understand scientific concepts, and tiny female hands aren't constructed to turn most textbooks' large, heavy covers." In addition to the features blurbed on the cover—"Tips for Hosting Your Own Big Bang," "Hot Reproductive Sex Tips," "Orgasms vs. Organisms"—it offers the "fun, flirty" quiz to discover "Do You Have Cancer?" and "The Period! Ick! Table." The author strays far from anything even tangentially related to science—e.g., "America: A Review," as if the country were a long-running TV series ("My rating: 50 stars out of a hundred"), and the objectivist advice column, "Dear Ayn Randers." Amram may have plenty of ideas for funny bits, but the follow-through often falls short of the inspiration—and the opening 10-page "Dedication" practically dares readers to make it word for word through the end. Later, she explains, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm just trying to use as many words as I, Megan Amram, possibly know so that I, Megan Amram, the author of this book, can kill (i.e., murder, assassinate) as many trees as possible." Despite some laughs, this book will try the patience of even its targeted readership.
