Why Men Die First: How to Lengthen Your Lifespan »

Dr. Marianne J. Legato is an internationally recognized physician, author, and lecturer. Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University, she is annually cited in New York Magazine's top doctors issues. She is also the author of bestselling Eve's Rib, The Female Heart, and Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forgot, which was translated into eleven languages. She lives in New York.

It is a universal fact that men die before women. But the causes of this have long remained unexplored. In this trailblazing book, Dr. Marianne Legato—an expert in gender specific health—examines the reasons behind men's fragility and explains what they need to do to live longer.

A bestselling author and Professor of Medicine at Columbia University, Dr. Legato shows how the forces of culture and biology conspire against male mortality. Drawing on the latest research and narrated through the lives of her patients, she delves into problems that both men and women care about— from why the male fetus is at greater risk, to why boys have a hard time adjusting to school, to how elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol make men more prone to aggression and why they are more likely to die from cardiac arrest or cancer and even depression.

Why Men Die First offers specific advice on what men can do to live better, including

* how on-one time with young boys reduces anixiety and attention deficit problems

* lifestyle changes that can prevent cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis

* why young men take on high risk endeavors and how to decrease the stress

* how to cope with mid life depression and feelings of emasculation and uselessness

* how testosterone shots can mitigate the unpleasant symptoms of aging

Dr. Legato brings the possibility of both mental and physical wellbeing to men in this compelling and inspiring book. A superstar physician, celebrated annually in New York Magazine's Best Doctors Issue, Dr. Legato is well poised to take on this urgent topic with her unimpeachable authority and natural warmth.

Publishers Weekly

Legato, a physician and one of the founders of gender specific medicine, provides a broad-brush look at the relative fragility of men who "at every point of their lives die an average of seven years earlier than women." Much of the book will be familiar to anyone who read John Gray's Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (or, indeed, Legato's own Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget), emphasizing the debatable notions that men and boys are aggressive where most women are team players, and that women value "the ambiance of the workplace and their relationship with other workers" over attaining power within a corporate structure. She breaks newer ground when she examines the genetics; the Y chromosome, she contends, may be more vulnerable to mutation, leading her to ponder whether "men have a future," or might disappear in 125,000 years (on the other hand, it may be that "the Y drives evolution"). Later chapters look at depression, diseases, sports and work as they relate to men. Though a well-sourced overview, Legato's attempt to give readers a "new view of men" suffers from a lack of fresh perspective.
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Acknowledgments     ix
Foreword     xi
The Strong, Powerful-and More Vulnerable-Male     1
Beginnings: Surviving the Womb and the First Weeks of Life     19
Educating Boys: How Well Are We Doing?     47
The Male Adolescent: The Dangerous Gulf between Impulse and Judgment     65
Male Depression: Its Causes, Expression, and Treatment     81
The Male Libido: Men and Sex     107
Hitting 40: New Challenges     127
Men and Cancer     159
Sports: The Price Men Pay     175
Men's Work: What Are the Hazards?     189
Andropause and the Aging Male     201
Coda     223
Notes     227
Index     249