Quick and easy read on a complex and difficult subject. I thought the author was generally quite fair and did a good job presenting the science accurately, though there was one place I felt she described adaptation in a somewhat Larmarckian fashion. That may have just been awkward phrasing - I can't find the passage in question now, so don't let that put you off.

I thought the first chapter was especially strong. The correspondence between Darwin and his male contemporaries and the feminists and woman scientists of the day was heartbreaking and illuminating. One of the major takeaways for me from this book is that so many otherwise expert and intelligent people are blinded by cultural and personal bias. A reminder to myself not to limit myself based on other people's expectations and also to be careful about my own blind spots.

I thought the book would have benefited from more about intersex people and inclusion of more about transgender people. I thought the section that did exist on intersex people was well done and sensitive. I also felt like there could have been a lot more about sex determination - it's incredibly complex and leads to an astonishing amount of variation within and between what we think of as the sexes. I think it would have strengthened some of her arguments to delve into this a bit.

I felt a bit frustrated during parts of the book because I sometimes felt she was focusing more on the cultural environment the science was produced in instead of the actual science, but by the end of the book I really appreciated that. Part of the book is titled How Science Got Women Wrong and the cultural environment and personal beliefs of the scientists are a big part of that.