A few quick facts about this book:

  • This is a book about intimate relations - sex.
  • It was written in the 60s
  • The book is old and shabby (after all, it is far older than I am).
  • The author - S.Shnabl is an East German (yes - that's East Germany, the part of Germany that was under socialistic control since WWII and until the Berlin wall came down). He is a researcher and consultant on the topic.
  • My grandmother gave me this book (!!!!). They dug in their book closets to clean up a bit, decided they no longer needed and gave it to the young couple (that would be us).

As I said, the book is simply about sex. It describes, in some detail, the physiological structure of men and women that take part in sex. In fact, this is pretty interesting. Placing shyness (a very useless trait of human beings, btw) aside, these things are important and good to know. The book argues correctly that sex is a major part of our lives. It is a source of happiness and satisfaction for a loving couple, and there's nothing wrong with learning more about it to be able to enjoy it better.

That said, I don't believe I learned much new from the book, but it was more a proof of some concepts. Things I was thinking about, considering and contemplating, and I got some professional agreemenet from the author.

Most of the book is not for us, yet (maybe because we're fortunate, but probably because we're still young). It talks about different problems couples are having, both physical and mental, both women and man. It also gives some suggestions on how to fix there problems.

It's funny to note a slight politic scent that comes from the author. He argues in many places in favor of the "socialistic" way of handling things. Funny to read, 15 years after it all came down.

Although I'd recommend the book, it's hardly useful for anyone. No doubt that it will be pretty hard to get another copy of the book these days. A google search yielded absolutely nothing, for instance.