Bitch

 I don't like the word bitch but I did enjoy a book recommended to me by another master naturalist. Bitch: On The Females Of The Species was written by Lucy Cooke who is a zoologist. According to the much revered Charles Darwin, the males of the species are active, dominating, and interesting. The females are passive and boring. According to Lucy Cooke, his interpretation of the role of the sexes in completely wrong. Some females are dominant and promiscuous.  Also, it is not so easy to tell males and females apart. Early in the book the author states that except for the human species, the genders of male and female don't scientifically apply. But then she writes the rest of the book applying genders. Towards the end of the book she writes about species of fish and lizards that can change their gender. Generally only females can change to male and once they do they remain as males. One species of fish could change genders up to 20 times in a 24 hour period. Some parts were dry but overall it was an interesting book.