First of all, I have to confess that I adore Em & Lo, the co-authors of this book. I was a huge fan of their last book (The Big Bang), and I've been eager to get my hands on this new one.
If this book doesn't get your motor running, then you need to check your pulse!
Sex: How To Do Everything is exactly what the title implies - a handbook that tells the story in words and images of how to do anything and everything sexual. In an improvement on The Big Bang, the pictures are more relevant to the text and highly illustrative of the positions and techniques being discussed. While the pictures are beautifully graphic, they aren't explicit i.e. there are no photos of penetration. This is an instructional book, not porn!
The one thing that's missing from this book is: Gays and Lesbians! What the heck, Em & Lo? While I don't have my copy of The Big Bang handy (it's been loaned out - AGAIN), I believe that there were at least a couple of gay- or lesbian-friendly images. There are none in this book. It's exclusively hetero-focused. For good or bad, Em & Lo have a target audience, and they have narrowed in on it.
Why would you need or want a sex book? Sex is simple and you know it all, right?
This book is a great icebreaker!
At the beginning of a relationship, it can be challenging to get your new partner to open up and talk about what s/he likes or dislikes. You're still self-conscious and unable to honest express yourself. Props and pictures can help to unlock secret fantasies or difficult-to-convey thoughts and ideas. A glass of wine helps, too.
Alternatively, if you and your longtime partner are searching for fresh inspiration,
Sex: How To Do Everything is chock full of ideas. It won't take many photos to get you both thinking, "Maybe we could try that ... or that ... or that!" You'll soon be tossing the book (carefully) to the floor to try something new!
Em & Lo have a unique voice together. They're smart, witty and no-nonsense. They expect you to have hang-ups and to occasionally make a gross-out face, but they won't indulge you in it. Here is an excerpt from the Introduction to the book:
If it ruins sex for you to be told which sex toys might move the earth for you and which will just irritate your sensitive bits, then go ahead and leave this book on the shelf. We're sure there's something interesting in the gardening aisle for you. But as for the real mystery of sex - how an orgasm can make you forget your own name, how the best sex can feel like two souls merging, how sex with a complete stranger can sometimes free you to be yourself, how bumping uglies can feel like anything but - well, we promise this book won't spoil any of that.
If I could write a sex book, this is what I would write! It should be tucked underneath every (heterosexual) bed in every English-speaking nation!
