Sexus Pro Anno

There isn't really an author to this book, per se. It is edited by Katey Mackenzie and includes elements from The Kama Sutra (Vatsyayana, erroneously given the name "Malanaga" in this book), The Ananga Ranga (Kalyanamalla, noted in this book as "Kalyana Malla"), The Perfumed Garden (Sheikh Nefzawi), and The Tao (Laozi). These elements are introduced in a vague way, with more modern language added in to make it more accessible.

While I can't find very much information on Katey Mackenzie, the authors of the texts are quite infamous.

Vatsyayana was a Hindu philosopher in India who lived sometime between the 1st and 6th century AD. Little is known about his life beyond his written work.

Kalyanamalla was an Indian poet and author of erotic fiction from the 16th century.

Sheikh Nefzaoui/Nefzawi is almost an unknown, having likely compiled The Perfumed Garden during the 12th century.

Laozi (also known as Lao-Tse or Lao-Tsu) lived sometime between the 4th and 5th century BC. There are plenty of opinions as to whether or not Laozi actually existed and, if so, when he lived and what he did. Tales abound surrounding his life, including a strange story about how his mother carried him in her womb for 62 years before giving birth to the old man. Definitely interesting, albeit mysterious.

Each of the 365 positions and acts for which this book is named are pulled from the above-mentioned Eastern texts. The first 50 or so pages are mainly foreplay (kissing, caressing, fondling, etc) but after that you start to see positions for sex.

Having each position or act on its own page is nice because it leaves plenty of room for the illustrative photos (they show breasts, but not genitals), which are quite tastefully done and not pornographic in nature. Each photo is accompanied by a short phrase that explains the position or act in a way that complements the creative names. These are very visual, such as "Swallowing the Mango" or "Congress of a Crow". The phrase is a line or two written in "modern language" and slang, which is, at times, incredibly coy and juvenile.

This book is very hetero-oriented and takes every opportunity to break their readers down into two categories: "guys" and "girls". Despite this, it is fairly obvious how to adapt the positions to suit different types of partnerships, though how effective they would be is entirely open to interpretation and experimentation.

Kama Sutra 365 is a squat, square paperback book. Each page is relatively thick and glossy with very clear, good-quality photography and minimal dressing such as backdrops or props.

The fonts are easy-to-read and the text is brief, keeping the focus on the photos and titles. The table of contents is clear and concise, followed by a short introduction and explanation of the texts used.

The cover is prone to curling up at the corners, so take care to lay it flat, and the spine creases easily, so if that bothers you, don't lay the book open facing down.

I thought this book, with its various sources, would give my partner and I some new things to try. As we're both overweight, we knew some of the positions would present challenges and we tried to work within our limitations. The addition of furniture and/or support cushions helped tremendously, as neither of us are very fit or strong, at least not strong enough to support the bulk of each others weight on our arms, etc.

We had a bit of a giggle at some parts (such as the page that describes swishing your hair over your partner's body, which resulted in me head-butting him) and noticed that a few pages seem like repeats, but overall, we enjoyed the book and accompanying experiences.