Aroused

Hormones are complex and have flummoxed scientists and physicians for years. During the nineteenth century, researchers hypothesized that some sort of “messengers” were working to send signals through the human body. Aroused traces these hunches, the discovery of various hormones during the twentieth century, the development of techniques to measure them, and their incorporation into medical treatments. Growth hormones, hormone replacement therapy, and hormones that regulate appetite are a few of the many topics covered. As a trade book, it is highly readable, with fluid prose. Each chapter is nicely contained, recounting a particular malady or illness and its hormonal underpinnings. It is almost as if each one is a narrative of a patient's chart, with a translation by a physician with a good bedside manner. That organizational method is the real strength of the book. Randi Hutter Epstein is entirely familiar with medical terminology, physiology, biochemistry, and the manifestations of symptoms wrought by out-of-balance hormones. This comfort with the medical science brings refreshing clarity to complicated illnesses. For readers interested in an accessible narrative about hormones, the book succeeds

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