At the top of my blog web page http://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/, a search window (upper left of the window, circled in green below)
will enable you to find my blog posts that mention Rosie and Don. Professor Donald Tillman is an expert geneticist and a PhD but he has Asperger's or something close to that condition. He is like the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the British TV show "Sherlock" and the similar detective in the American show "Elementary". He is great at observation and genuine logical deduction but poor at interpersonal perception and relationships.
Professor Tillman is the main character in the book "The Rosie Project" and the sequel, "The Rosie Effect". Just as the British psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen explains, Prof. Don is better at using facts, arguments, evidence and experiments than he is at placing himself in another's shoes mentally and seeing how that person might feel. The Rosie Project is the story of Don's dating and courting. The Rosie Effect is the story of the two as expectant parents.
The fact we are in one or the other of the major human groups known as "men" and "women" gives us all a chance to think about membership in one group and puzzle over what it would be like to be a member of the other group. If you stay alert and read or watch the members of those two groups, you can decide, as I have, that both groups have their burdens and their rewards. In this age of "equality",we like to emphasize that a girl in America can grow up to be anything she wants to be. But recently, especially in the pages of "The Atlantic", the debate about whether a woman can "have it all" has re-emerged. Just to check with the member of the other group that I know best, I just asked her (she is a PhD and very wise), "Can women have it all?" Which is current code for can women be mothers, good parents and successful at their careers, too. She immediately answered,"Nobody can have it all."
I told you she was very wise. Even today, despite Arnold in "Junior", men aren't going to give birth and they probably aren't going to have a visceral connection to their child 35 years after its birth. Since I don't know of any statement that can be sure to separate the gals from the guys, especially in the age of transgender possibilities, I will just advise reading the books and enjoying them.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
