Breasts: An Owner’s Guide by Philippa Kaye
Aug. 2nd, 2023 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Every question answered about our most mythologised body part.
Separate fact from fiction with the first complete medical guide to breasts. Health expert Dr Philippa Kaye offers straight-talking advice, explaining every what, why, and how of your mammaries, helping you improve your self-care routine both today and tomorrow.
- Master your own anatomy and discover an under appreciated erogenous zone
- Learn why the right bra matters and how to perform regular health checks with confidence
- Spot when things go wrong and know what you can do about it.
To understand your body is to own it.
It might even save your life
Philippa Kaye is a GP specialising in children’s and women’s health, author and journalist. This informative book (part of THE BODY LITERACY LIBRARY) sets out everything you need to know about breasts, including bra fitting, checking your breasts and what to look for, how to breastfeed and how breasts change as you get older. Despite some repetition, it’s clearly written and easy to follow and anyone with breasts should consider checking it out.
This is exactly the kind of book that I wished had been around when I was a pre-teen and stressing out because I was the only girl in my class whose boobs weren’t making an appearance. That’s not to say that this is a book for younger women though - Kaye has set out a comprehensive book that tracks the “life cycle” (for want of a better term) of your breasts, mixing owner hints with a discussion of more general topics such as whether breast size is important, what breasts are for and how they develop and sexualisation of breasts in society (including double standards when it comes to social media and nipples).
Kaye divides the book into 11 chapters (including an introduction an epilogue), which cover subjects such as anatomy and everyday maintenance, puberty, post puberty, pregnancy and breastfeeding, menopause, when things go wrong, breast cancer and cosmetic surgery. She writes in an easy to follow style and I liked the lack of judgment when it comes to talking about topics that some readers may find contentious (e.g. when talking about breast feeding -v- bottle feeding, she emphasising that feeding the baby is most important, chest binding, cosmetic surgery and piercing).
For me the most useful sections were on bra fitting (I’ve never been 100% sure how to tell if a bra is actually supporting me properly and always had a lot of problems with straps falling off shoulders) and on how to check yourself for signs of breast cancer, which I think is a big worry for a lot of people. Having had a breast cancer scare in 2022, I liked how Kaye set out things to keep an eye on in your breasts in terms of changes and how to carry out the exam. The book has a lot of illustrations by Hannah Naughton and Lauren Mitchell, which work well with the text. What is particularly reassuring is how Kaye sets out the various benign conditions that may cause changes in your breast tissue so although she makes clear that you should get changes checked out, she’s also given enough information for readers to not automatically assume that it’s the big C. If you do have a breast cancer diagnosis though, Kaye’s chapter on it is informative and would certainly give you enough information to be able to question your doctor about your condition and treatment.
Kaye makes the point that men have breast tissue and so some of the information here is, in my opinion, equally important to them and as such I think this is a book that men would also benefit from checking out.
There is some repetition within the book, e.g. about bra fitting, which I did find a bit annoying at times (although to be fair there are areas of overlap within topics and Kaye cross-refers back to relevant sections where necessary). However in the main I found this to be hugely informative and very interesting. Certainly it’s one of those books that anyone with breasts should consider buying because I now feel much more confident when it comes to monitoring and thinking about my boobs.
The Verdict:
Philippa Kaye is a GP specialising in children’s and women’s health, author and journalist. This informative book (part of THE BODY LITERACY LIBRARY) sets out everything you need to know about breasts, including bra fitting, checking your breasts and what to look for, how to breastfeed and how breasts change as you get older. Despite some repetition, it’s clearly written and easy to follow and anyone with breasts should consider checking it out.
BREASTS: AN OWNER’S GUIDE was released in the United Kingdom on 23rd March 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Separate fact from fiction with the first complete medical guide to breasts. Health expert Dr Philippa Kaye offers straight-talking advice, explaining every what, why, and how of your mammaries, helping you improve your self-care routine both today and tomorrow.
- Master your own anatomy and discover an under appreciated erogenous zone
- Learn why the right bra matters and how to perform regular health checks with confidence
- Spot when things go wrong and know what you can do about it.
It might even save your life
Philippa Kaye is a GP specialising in children’s and women’s health, author and journalist. This informative book (part of THE BODY LITERACY LIBRARY) sets out everything you need to know about breasts, including bra fitting, checking your breasts and what to look for, how to breastfeed and how breasts change as you get older. Despite some repetition, it’s clearly written and easy to follow and anyone with breasts should consider checking it out.
This is exactly the kind of book that I wished had been around when I was a pre-teen and stressing out because I was the only girl in my class whose boobs weren’t making an appearance. That’s not to say that this is a book for younger women though - Kaye has set out a comprehensive book that tracks the “life cycle” (for want of a better term) of your breasts, mixing owner hints with a discussion of more general topics such as whether breast size is important, what breasts are for and how they develop and sexualisation of breasts in society (including double standards when it comes to social media and nipples).
Kaye divides the book into 11 chapters (including an introduction an epilogue), which cover subjects such as anatomy and everyday maintenance, puberty, post puberty, pregnancy and breastfeeding, menopause, when things go wrong, breast cancer and cosmetic surgery. She writes in an easy to follow style and I liked the lack of judgment when it comes to talking about topics that some readers may find contentious (e.g. when talking about breast feeding -v- bottle feeding, she emphasising that feeding the baby is most important, chest binding, cosmetic surgery and piercing).
For me the most useful sections were on bra fitting (I’ve never been 100% sure how to tell if a bra is actually supporting me properly and always had a lot of problems with straps falling off shoulders) and on how to check yourself for signs of breast cancer, which I think is a big worry for a lot of people. Having had a breast cancer scare in 2022, I liked how Kaye set out things to keep an eye on in your breasts in terms of changes and how to carry out the exam. The book has a lot of illustrations by Hannah Naughton and Lauren Mitchell, which work well with the text. What is particularly reassuring is how Kaye sets out the various benign conditions that may cause changes in your breast tissue so although she makes clear that you should get changes checked out, she’s also given enough information for readers to not automatically assume that it’s the big C. If you do have a breast cancer diagnosis though, Kaye’s chapter on it is informative and would certainly give you enough information to be able to question your doctor about your condition and treatment.
Kaye makes the point that men have breast tissue and so some of the information here is, in my opinion, equally important to them and as such I think this is a book that men would also benefit from checking out.
There is some repetition within the book, e.g. about bra fitting, which I did find a bit annoying at times (although to be fair there are areas of overlap within topics and Kaye cross-refers back to relevant sections where necessary). However in the main I found this to be hugely informative and very interesting. Certainly it’s one of those books that anyone with breasts should consider buying because I now feel much more confident when it comes to monitoring and thinking about my boobs.
The Verdict:
Philippa Kaye is a GP specialising in children’s and women’s health, author and journalist. This informative book (part of THE BODY LITERACY LIBRARY) sets out everything you need to know about breasts, including bra fitting, checking your breasts and what to look for, how to breastfeed and how breasts change as you get older. Despite some repetition, it’s clearly written and easy to follow and anyone with breasts should consider checking it out.
BREASTS: AN OWNER’S GUIDE was released in the United Kingdom on 23rd March 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
