The Hot Topic: A Life-Changing Look at the Change of Life

Killer whales go through menopause. So do certain aphids. And as journalist and contributing editor to British Vogue Christa D'Souza points out in The Hot Topic: A Life-Changing Look at the Change of Life, after the year 2030, 1.2 billion women will have gone through or will be going through menopause.

Whether addressing newsflashes or hot flashes, D'Souza offers a primer on menopause that maps the mental and emotional landscape of this phase of life, explores science, medicine, her own experiences and those of family and friends. D'Souza scouts sources across the globe, interviewing menopausal nuns in Silicon Valley and hunter-gatherer members of the Hadza tribe in Tanzania, whose older women are crucial to the tribe's existence. She culls much of her research from modern science but looks to history as well, citing a variety of 20th-century scientists in addition to wisdom and customs as ancient as Aristotle. She quotes cultural icons like Gloria Steinem and Simone de Beauvoir, and tackles wide-ranging issues of mid-to-late life as a woman, such as sex, hormone replacement therapy, sexism and back fat.

The Hot Topic is a fun read. D'Souza's tone is candid, as if chatting with old friends after a few glasses of wine--which, as D'Souza laments, exacerbate the symptoms of menopause. The book will especially appeal to women undergoing the change or wanting to be informed of what's to come, as well as curious partners or spouses. --Katie Weed, freelance writer and reviewer

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