'A dazzling, funny and elegantly angry demolition of our preconceptions about female behaviour and sex in the animal kingdom ... Bitch is a blast. I read it, my jaw sagging in astonishment, jotting down favourite parts to send to friends and reading out snippets gleefully...' Observer

'A book that is tearing down the stereotypes and the biases. Absolutely fascinating.' BBC R4 Woman's Hour

'From the heir to Attenborough. 5*' - Telegraph

'Glorious ... A bold and gripping takedown of the sexist mythology baked into biology ... Full of marvellous surprises. Guardian

'Colourful, committed and deeply informed.' Sunday Times

'Gloriously original' Daily Mirror

A 'sparkling attack on scientific sexism' Nature

'Humorous, absorbing, sometimes shocking (for a variety of reasons), and bound to be a conversation starter' BBC Wildlife

'Brilliant ... Cooke is a superb science writer' TLS

'Zoologist Lucy Cooke's hilarious and enlightening book reclaims evolutionary biology for females of all species.' New Statesman

'Introduces us to a marvelous zoetrope of animals.' The Atlantic

'[An] effervescent expose ... [A] playful, enlightening tour of the vanguard of evolutionary biology.' Scientific American

Selected for the Telegraph's 'best books for summer 2022' and as one of the Guardian's '50 hottest new books for a great escape'.
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What does it mean to be female? Mother, carer, the weaker sex? Think again.
In the last few decades a revolution has been brewing in zoology and evolutionary biology. Lucy Cooke introduces us to a riotous cast of animals, and the scientists studying them, that are redefining the female of the species.

Meet the female lemurs of Madagascar, our ancient primate cousins that dominate the males of their species physically and politically.

Or female albatross couples, hooking up together to raise their chicks in Hawaii.

Or the meerkat mothers of the Kalahari Desert - the most murderous mammals on the planet.

The bitches in BITCH overturn outdated binary expectations of bodies, brains, biology and behaviour. Lucy Cooke's brilliant new book will change how you think - about sex, sexual identity and sexuality in animals and also the very forces that shape evolution.
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Praise for Lucy's previous book THE UNEXPECTED TRUTH ABOUT ANIMALS
'Endlessly fascinating' - Bill Bryson
'I cannot remember when I enjoyed a non-fiction book so much' - Daily Express
'A joy from beginning to end' - Guardian
'Best science pick: deeply researched, sassily written' - Nature

About the Author

Lucy Cooke has a Master's in Zoology from the University of Oxford, where she was tutored by Richard Dawkins. She is the author of two previous books, A Little Book of Sloth, which was a New York Times bestseller, and The Unexpected Truth about Animals, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize and has been translated into seventeen languages. She has also written for The Sunday Times, Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Lucy is also an award-winning broadcaster and documentary filmmaker. Initially working behind the scenes in television comedy, she is now a regular on Radio 4 and has presented prime-time series for BBC, ITV and National Geographic.

Reviews
Lucy Cooke's Bitch shows just how far we have come in seeing nature's females for what they actually are.' -- Simon Ing * Telegraph *
Surprising sex lives of the animal kingdom: From bondage-loving spiders to 'Scrooge-like' lobsters who save their sperm for a female who's 'worth it', BITCH lifts the lid on kinky creatures -- Claire Toureille * Daily Mail *
Best books of 2022 so far: Zoologist Lucy Cooke's hilarious and enlightening book reclaims evolutionary biology for females of all species. * New Statesman *
Mr Darwin, your time is up...This is the evolutionary reboot us bitches have been waiting for. -- Sue Perkins
Brilliant ... Cooke is a superb science writer -- Carol Tavris * TLS *



Book Information
ISBN 9781804990919
Author Lucy Cooke
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Penguin (Transworld)
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Weight(grams) 262g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 127mm * 24mm