It's a Jungle Out There, Jane: Understanding the Male Animal

Read by the author
2 cassettes / Three hours


In The Nine Fantasies That Will Ruin Your Life and the Eight Realities That Will Save You, Dr. Joy Browne helped us to get our heads out of the clouds and our feet on the ground.??In her new book--being published just after the launch of her new syndicated TV talk show, as well as a syndicated newspaper column--she gets even more down to earth, exposing the wild beasts that lurk inside even the most seemingly tame guys.

If you want to finally understand what's going on with men at work, for instance, you'll hear the answer in a chapter Dr. Joy calls "The Jungle."??The dynamics of men and their families become apparent in "The Pride," the male attitude toward sex is exposed in "Mating," the whole agression thing starts to make sense in "Locking Horns," what passes for communication among guys is treated in "Roaring," and the male concern about appearance (a far bigger preoccupation than they'll admit to, by the way) gets uncloaked in "Plumage."

As her millions of radio listeners--and, starting this September, millions of TV viewers--know, Dr. Joy combines a sense of fun and a sympathetic voice with an astute understanding of what makes people tick.

In It's A Jungle out there, Jane, she uses all her talents to help women understand the men who are, or might someday be, their mates.

Feisty talk-show shrink Dr. Joy Browne promises and delivers here an exploration of "the evolution of male behavior, from the primordial ooze to the post-coital snooze." What are the real differences between men and women, where did these come from, and what can we do about them to make relationships work? "Dr. Joy" attempts to answer those questions in her trademark spunky style. She points out many (annoying) male traits that have their foundation in biological evolution. For example, the dominant "boss" position--rocking back in his chair, feet up on the desk, arms stretched back behind his head--is equivalent to the chest thrust of the alpha male gorilla! But Browne isn't just interested in biological evolution ("that stuff makes glaciers look speedy"), she's also interested in social evolution. Browne explains how and why men react to everything from making love to housework.

Browne, as always, is informative and fun. Even her chapter titles are peppy and amusing: "Locking Horns" (conflict), "Roaring" (communication), "Plumage" (appearance), and "Going for the Kill" (money), for example. She gives frequent advice to "Tarzan" or "Jane," and includes comments in each chapter about how boys are raised to be men, and interesting tidbits about how male animals act in the wild.

"This book can help you understand why guys act, think, talk, love, make love, stay, stray, tune-out, tune-in and turn-on the way they do," says Browne. And if you want some direct advice, Jane, "Ask specifically for what you want. Don't whine. Stick to the problem at hand and never, ever insult his mother." --Joan Price