Publisher Description

What is sex? Has it always existed? What purpose does it serve? Why are there penises and vaginas? These questions are at the very core of Dirty Biology, an erudite (and hilarious) graphic novel that aims to teach you everything you wanted to know about sex—and then some."Sex" can mean a number of things. It can refer to sex organs, to sex types, to the act of copulation, or to the simple exchange of genetic material. This book explains what we actually mean when we talk about sex and reveals a wealth of astonishing scientific details along the way. For example, did you know that some species can have sex without genitals? And when it comes to genitals, did you know that there's an amazing diversity of these across species? From the evolution of penises and vaginas to far-fetched mating rituals and the shocking consequences of the sex act, Dirty Biology exposes sex for what it is: a lot more interesting and more complicated than the simplistic image we often have of it.

Author Biography

Léo Grasset (scripter) has advanced degrees in evolutionary biology and organismal and ecosystems biology. In 2014, he began to make humorous and educational YouTube videos about biology. An English translation of his first book was published as How the Zebra Got Its Stripes: Darwinian Stories Told Through Evolutionary Biology.Colas Grasset (artist) has collaborated with his brother Léo on several episodes of the YouTube program DirtyBiology. He blogs about his work at http://hou-bim.blogspot.com.

Review

"The mix of giggle-inducing factoids and incisive scientific insights make this investigation of copulation well worth digging into."—Publishers Weekly
"Dirty Biology isn't fooling around! Its androgynous narrator and cast of millions will impregnate your brain with a gossipy tour of who's doing it, how they're doing it, and maybe even why they're doing it, all in explicit, throbbing color. Why am I not embarrassed?"—Larry Gonick,author of The Cartoon Guide to Sex
"This work pushes the boundaries of the comic in new and provocative directions, and is proudly international in scope."—Laura Sayre International Journal of Comic Art

Long Description

What is sex? Has it always existed? What purpose does it serve? Why are there penises and vaginas? These questions are at the very core of Dirty Biology , an erudite (and hilarious) graphic novel that aims to teach you everything you wanted to know about sex--and then some. "Sex" can mean a number of things. It can refer to sex organs, to sex types, to the act of copulation, or to the simple exchange of genetic material. This book explains what we actually mean when we talk about sex and reveals a wealth of astonishing scientific details along the way. For example, did you know that some species can have sex without genitals? And when it comes to genitals, did you know that there's an amazing diversity of these across species? From the evolution of penises and vaginas to far-fetched mating rituals and the shocking consequences of the sex act, Dirty Biology exposes sex for what it is: a lot more interesting and more complicated than the simplistic image we often have of it.

Review Text

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY -- The Grassets deliver a thorough, accessible,uproariously funny, and undeniably French exploration of sexual reproduction inthis clever guide. A nameless asexual humanoid with a winningly dark sense ofhumor acts as reader's guide to the wonder and weirdness of sex, and opens witha question: Why do humans have sex? From this simple beginning, the book's reachis vast, encompassing everything from the development of size difference ingametes to necrophilia among lizards. Playful colors and confident linework doan excellent job of grounding the ocean of information, while a concise scriptand tart humor

Review Quote

"This work pushes the boundaries of the comic in new and provocative directions, and is proudly international in scope." --Laura Sayre, International Journal of Comic Art

Details