I want to say up front that this book rocks! It's a great purchase at a good price, although I would have preferred the book to be hardcover rather than soft cover. It's a large format book, printed on high quality paper, and totally worth the $19.95. The bulk of the text is comprised of side by side portraits of porn stars, one to a page. The portraits feature the person in the same pose, but the first is of them in everyday clothes and generally minimal makeup, the second is naked.

For me this wasn't a sexual book. I did not find myself aroused from reading it. I was too busy examining every physical detail of the pictures. I think it's a valid statement to say that women are much less exposed to naked bodies growing up, especially of other women. There aren't as many locker room experiences and until the Internet age, we didn't tend to have porno magazines hidden in our room like most boys.

I don't really watch a lot of porn, and only recognized the names of three people. I think I had a preconceived notion of what types of bodies porn stars would have. I did not imagine the far from perfect bodies with saggy breasts, uneven breasts, spotty skin, droopy labia, and even an inverted nipple. You can tell who had breast implants even if they are hanging where they are supposed to, instead of too high up on the chest. The crescent scars on the nipples are very visible. I'm sure there was some retouching involved, but these portraits are not super airbrushed like pictures in Playboy.

The men were equally fascinating. I've watched the Simpsons on TV for almost 20 years now, and I never imagined that there really was someone named Seymore Butts! (This is the punch line to a long running joke between Bart and his principal Seymour Skinner.) Most of these men must be waxing or shaving most of their body hair off, and it makes me wonder how stubbly feeling their skin is. The men are photographed in a natural state without an erection. A couple men were well endowed enough to make me wonder if they were not just a bit aroused, but they are porn stars after all. Their bodies also run the gamut in every way showcasing circumcised and uncircumcised penises of every size.

In addition to the photography, there are numerous essays by famous people musing about porn. This includes an introduction by Gore Vidal, and essays by John Malkovich, Salman Rushdie, and Whitley Strieber. The back of the book includes revelatory short autobiographies and filmographies. For example, Sharon Mitchell describes how a brutal rape and beating led her to return to school for a master's degree and doctorate. When you look at her portrait, she appears to have an inverted nipple. I wonder if this is actually an injury she sustained when attacked as she describes it as very sadistic.

I recommend this book to almost everyone. If you enjoy porn, you will probably like the portraits and background information. If you don't like porn, this book may change your image of the industry. Or you could be like me, someone who is just curious about bodies in general and found it enlightening and enjoyable to read.

Still enjoying this book! It was a great topic of conversation during last nights drinking and chatting with my girlfriends. We all ended up looking at the women more than the men, while having one of those "no matter how much I diet and work out I could never get my stomach that flat..." type of discussions. This would make a good gift for a friend as a gag, or just something different.