There are countless books on sex and an endless fascination with the subject. Varieties and vagaries of sexual desire have long been documented, but there has been little engagement with cutting-edge scientific research to uncover the biological and psychological bases of sexual desire. Here, Frederick Toates uses the insights of modern science to show how a wide range of desire-related phenomena - fantasy, novelty-seeking, sexual addiction, sex-drug interactions, fetishes, voyeurism, and sexual violence and killing - start to make sense. For example, the role of the brain's neurochemical dopamine can now be much better understood in terms of wanting, and a distinction between wanting and liking has been established. Also, an understanding of the layered organization of the brain, sometimes described as hierarchical, can be used to explain temptation and conflict. This is a fascinating book with great social relevance to society and its problems with sexuality.

关于性的书籍数不胜数，人们对这一主题有着无尽的迷恋。长期以来，性欲的多样性和变异性一直被记录在案，但很少有人参与前沿的科学研究来揭示性欲的生物学和心理学基础。在这里，弗雷德里克-托茨利用现代科学的洞察力，展示了一系列与欲望有关的现象--幻想、寻求新奇、性瘾、性与药物的相互作用、恋物癖、偷窥癖以及性暴力和杀戮--是如何开始变得合理的。例如，现在可以从欲望的角度更好地理解大脑神经化学物质多巴胺的作用，并在欲望和喜欢之间建立了区别。另外，对大脑分层组织的理解，有时被描述为分层，可以用来解释诱惑和冲突。这是一本引人入胜的书，对社会及其性行为的问题有很大的社会意义。