Breasts: a natural and unnatural history

I feel like I should have an excuse, some kind of justification for picking up Breasts: a natural and unnatural history, but in truth it just looked interesting. One of the comments on the back cover states: "Be brave, buy this book, and withstand the giggles and snickers of your friends..." I saw that and checked the book out and was glad I did. Author Florence Williams rhapsodizes about our culture's obsession with (big) breasts, the history of breast augmentation, and then tackles a lot about plastics and environmental toxins that are ending up in breast milk and contributing to high rates of breast cancer. As a former La Leche League leader, I found the information about the toxicity of breast milk disturbing. As a woman, mother, and citizen, I was angry to read about all the mounting evidence that plastics and other environmental toxins are responsible for high breast cancer rates when these chemicals run so freely through our homes, lawns, and waterways. There was a lot of interesting information as well, the story of the first breast implant (the woman consented to the experimental procedure in exchange for cosmetic surgery on her ears), information about hormones and a brief history of birth control, and studies about how men respond to breasts (ok, so that wasn't too surprising). The book is labeled 'science' and at times felt too dry with too much scientific jargon for my liking, but overall it's an interesting book.