Once you begin reading As Nature Made Him , a mesmerizing story of a medical tragedy and its traumatic results, you absolutely won't want to put it down. Following a botched circumcision, a family is convinced to raise their infant son, Bruce, as a girl. They rename the child Brenda and spend the next 14 years trying to transform him into a her. Brenda's childhood reads as one filled with anxiety and loneliness, and her fear and confusion are present on nearly every page concerning her early childhood. Much of her pain is caused by Dr. Money, who is presented as a villainous medical man attempting to coerce an unwilling child to submit to numerous unpleasant treatments. Reading over interviews and reports of decisions made by this doctor, it's difficult to contain anger at the widespread results of his insistence that natural-born gender can be altered with little more than willpower and hormone treatments. The attempts of his parents, twin brother, and extended family to assist Brenda to be happily female are touching--the sense is overwhelmingly of a family wanting to do "right" while being terribly mislead as to what "right" is for her. As Brenda makes the decision to live life as a male (at age 14), she takes the name David and begins the process of reversing the effects of estrogen treatments. David's ultimately successful life--a solid marriage, honest and close family relationships, and his bravery in making his childhood public--bring an uplifting end to his story. Equally fascinating is the latest segment of the longtime nature/nurture controversy, and the interviews of various psychological researchers and practitioners form a larger framework around David's struggle to live as the gender he was meant to be. --Jill Lightner

As Nature Made Him - The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl

COLAPINTO, JOHN

LGBTQ+ Books

Harpercollins

Used book in good condition, due to its age it could contain normal signs of use

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

HarperCollins, Publishers

In 1967, after a baby boy suffered a botched circumcision, his family agreed to a radical treatment. On the advice of a renowned expert in gender identity and sexual reassignment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the boy was surgically altered to live as a girl. This landmark case, initially reported to be a complete success, seemed all the more remarkable since the child had been born an identical twin: his uninjured brother, raised as a boy, provided to the experiment the perfect matched control.
The so-called twins case would become one of the most famous in modern medicine and the social sciences; cited repeatedly over the past thirty years as living proof that our sense of being male or female is not inborn but primarily the result of how we are raised. A touchstone for the feminist movement, the case also set the precedent for sex reassignment as standard treatment for thousands of newborns with similarly injured, or irregular, genitals.
But the case was a failure from the outset. From the start the famous twin had, in fact, struggled against his imposed girlhood. Since age fourteen, when finally informed of his medical history, he made the decision to live as a male. John Colapinto tells this extraordinary story for the first time in As Nature Made Him. Writing with uncommon intelligence, insight, and compassion, he also sets the historical and medical context for the case, exposing the thirty-year-long scientific feud between Dr. John Money and his fellow sex researcher, Dr. Milton Diamond--a rivalry over the nature/nurture debate whose very bitterness finally brought the truth to light. A macabre tale of medical arrogance, As Nature Made Him is first and foremost a human drama of one man's-and one family's--amazing survival in the face of terrible odds. The human intimacy of the story is all the greater for the subject's courageous decision to step out from behind the pseudonym that has shrouded his identity for the past thirty years.

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as A Girl

Harper

About the Author

Cal Cunninghman has always fantasized about being a novelist. But at twenty-five, he's far from realizing his dream. Newly arrived in Manhattan, he toils as a bookstore stockboy, lives in a dire neighborhood, and never seems to write anything. How curious, then, that Cal should shortly publish a rollicking autobiographical novel that shoots to the top of bestseller lists and sells to the movies for a million dollars. 
About the Author is Cal's first-person account of how he achieved this remarkable feat. A mysterious roommate, a timely bike accident, and the rapacious literary agent Blackie Yaeger all play a role in Cal's success. Deception, blackmail and murder all play a role in Cal's desperate bid to hold onto that success. 
 Reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith's gripping "Ripley" novels, About the Author is a wickedly funny psychological thriller that not only casts a knowing eye on the excesses of the current Manhattan publishing world, but touches on deeper themes of literary envy, identity, guilt, and the fatal difference between reality and imagination.

Literature & Fiction

United States

In 1967, after a twin baby boy suffered a botched circumcision, his family agreed to a radical treatment that would alter his gender. The case would become one of the most famous in modern medicine -- and a total failure. As Nature Made Him tells the extraordinary story of David Reimer, who, when finally informed of his medical history, made the decision to live as a male. A macabre tale of medical arrogance, it is first and foremost a human drama of one man's -- and one family's -- amazing survival in the face of terrible odds.

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl

Science & Math

Harper-perennial

Just how did Cal Cunningham -- a twenty-five-year-old bookstore stockboy who is new to Manhattan and who has never written anything -- publish a bestselling novel that sells to the movies for a million dollars?
A mysterious roommate, a timely bike accident, and the rapacious literary agent Blackie Yaeger all play a role in Cal's success.
Deception, blackmail, and murder all play a role in his desperate bid to hold on to it.
And About the Author is his first-person account of how he performed this remarkable feat.

In 1967, after a twin baby boy suffered a botched circumcision, his family agreed to a radical treatment that would alter his gender. The case would become one of the most famous in modern medicine—and a total failure. As Nature Made Him tells the extraordinary story of David Reimer, who, when finally informed of his medical history, made the decision to live as a male. A macabre tale of medical arrogance, it is first and foremost a human drama of one man's—and one family's—amazing survival in the face of terrible odds.

Things have not been going well for Dez. He’s broke, jobless, angry and without a future. Then he happens to see an episode of “Tovah in the Afternoon” featuring the fabulously successful memoirist Jasper Ulrickson…
A masterful satire, this novel hinges on celebrity envy-and the anarchic imperatives of desire. Dez, determined to bring Jasper down to his own level, devises a diabolical scheme to ruin Jasper’s reputation and seize his fortune. He uses a novel weapon: forbidden Eros. What ensues is a descent into psychological nightmare, one lit with dark flashes of humor and illuminating tragedy. Like watching Othello fall to Iago’s masterful manipulations, we are riveted by Dez’s cruel trick, this coldly calculated attempt to destroy another human being-this spectacle of an upright man brought low by envy and the implacable demands of desire.
A risk-taking and courageous novel unsparing in its dissection of the erotic impulse, Undone speaks to our era’s corrosive fascination with the cult of celebrity, money and the compulsion to get ahead at all costs.

Undone

Literary

Patrick Crean Editions

Things have not been going well for Dez. He’s broke, jobless, angry and without a future. Then he happens to see an episode of “Tovah in the Afternoon” featuring the fabulously successful memoirist Jasper Ulrickson, and devises a diabolical scheme to ruin him...
What ensues is a descent into psychological nightmare, one lit with dark flashes of humor and illuminating tragedy. Like watching Othello fall to Iago’s masterful manipulations, we are riveted by this spectacle of an upright man undone by envy and the implacable demands of desire. A risk-taking and courageous novel, unsparing in its dissection of the erotic impulse, Undone speaks to our era’s corrosive fascination with the cult of celebrity, money and the compulsion to get ahead at all costs.

A fascinating guide to a career in neurosurgery written by award-winning journalist John Colapinto and based on the real-life experiences of an expert in the field—essential reading for someone considering a path to this most challenging profession. Choosing what to do with your life begins with imagining yourself in a career, actually meeting the emotional, physical, and intellectual demands of the job. Often regarded as one of the most technically and emotionally demanding of surgical disciplines, becoming a neurosurgeon requires years of study. This practical guide offers a unique opportunity to see what daily life for a neurosurgeon is like, from someone who has mastered the profession and can explain what the risks and rewards of the job really are. Joshua Bederson is the chief of Neurosurgery at the esteemed Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. New Yorker writer John Colapinto brings to vivid life what Dr. Bederson’s professional life is like to show all the varied facets of his work, from extensive study and research to brain operations, one-on-one consultations with patients, and even staff meetings with fellow surgeons and students. Since Mt. Sinai is a teaching hospital, we learn alongside the residents and interns how Bederson trains neurosurgeons, passing along the knowledge and skills he honed over decades. The result is a multidimensional portrait of a man and a department, a practical guide for how to enter and learn the profession, as well as a moving glimpse into the world of patients and doctors who face some of life’s most harrowing challenges.

Becoming a Neurosurgeon (Masters at Work)

Business & Money

Job Hunting & Careers

Simon&Schuster

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by COLAPINTO, JOHN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by COLAPINTO, JOHN

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by COLAPINTO, JOHN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

As Nature Made Him - The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as A Girl

About the Author

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl

About the Author

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl

Undone

Undone

Becoming a Neurosurgeon (Masters at Work)