PositiveThe Atlantic...Vanessa McGrady’s new book, Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption, reads like a real-life manifestation of [Adam] Pertman’s theory on open adoptions—but it sheds some revealing light on the \'difficult or complicated\' part. Like Pertman, McGrady posits in her book that \'open adoption is better … for the mental health of all involved,\' but what Rock Needs River does most effectively is lay bare the stressful, painful, psychologically taxing situations that can result from open adoption ... while Rock Needs River markets itself as an uplifting work about cobbling together a family from nontraditional parts, McGrady’s adoption story is rare and important for another reason ... Rock Needs River reminds the reader that although open adoption is often characterized nowadays as the enlightened, humane way to adopt a child, it can come with its own complications. Adoption of any kind inevitably creates unusual and challenging situations for everyone involved, and not all can be fixed by an open arrangement.
Justin J Lehmiller
PositiveThe AtlanticIn the canon of sex research, far more energy and attention has been devoted to the act of having sex—how, when, and with whom—than to how people think about it when they are on their own. Which is one reason why Justin Lehmiller, a research fellow at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction and the author of the blog Sex and Psychology, decided to conduct the largest-ever research project on sexual fantasy and desire, and write a book about it-Tell Me What You Want, published earlier this month ... In general, Lehmiller finds many of the the results of his study \'reassuring.\' \'We’re not trying to replace our partners,\' Lehmiller says. \'We’re just trying to amp our sex life up a little bit.\'
