Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex
by Nina Hartley & I.S. Levine

Book Review by Adrienne

Before we get into the book description I want to say that of the many dozens of sex guides available Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex is right up there on top of the heap. With the mainstreaming of porn, publishers are dashing about in a frenzy of signing up porn stars to tell all, teach all, expose all. There's any number of books by porn stars telling us how to do it like a porn star. I can't appreciate the appeal of that. The premise is that we're all dumb as stumps and don't realize porn movies are in fact movies, and porn stars, like all movie stars, are acting and performing for the camera. 

If  your partner is making love like a porn star don't consider yourself lucky, consider yourself duped. And get him/her a copy of Nina's Guide to Total Sex so they can stop performing and start enjoying. Nina, bless her sexy backside, guides us with verve and practical advice on how to do it like the people we are. 

Nina is frank, honest, funny, smart, and in tune with sexuality like no other. The cornerstone of this book is "You and your partner are the sole arbiters of correctness when it comes to this most personal of interactions."—a compelling and empowering statement in the current political climate of what is right and what is wrong when it comes to sex.

The cover image, by the reigning queen of glamour art, Olivia De Berardinis, is a gorgeous pin-up of Nina. Unfortunately the pseudo hardcover wanna-be curls up and screams 'cheap.' Shame on the publishers for that embarrassingly stingy blight on an otherwise fabulous book. I keep my vibrator on the book to flatten the cover. I have to admit it makes an attractive coupling. And talking about vibrators, Nina's chapter on "Toys: Putting Technology to Work" is like the rest of her book: smart, level-headed and straightforward.

Book description:  Legendary porn star Nina Hartley's guide to thrilling, liberating, mind-blowing, soul-fulfilling, and intimacy-building sex!

Witty, smart, and frankly provocative, Nina Hartley knows sex. As a sex performer, sexual adventurer, and sex educator, she's done the fieldwork and has taken extensive notes. Now, she's ready to share her research. Let's just say that she's had all the sex-the good, the bad, and the indifferent - so you won't necessarily have to!

Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex is for sexual pioneers and enthusiastic novices. Unabashedly erotic, the book covers a lot of territory, allowing readers to sample the whole smorgasbord or just nibble at what they see as the choicest bits. To start things off, Nina includes explicitly detailed chapters on foreplay, oral sex, masturbation, toys, and games. Sexual adventurers (and voyeurs) will find chapters on swinging, three-ways, anal sex, erotic domination, sensual submission, and much more.

Nina is a strong advocate of safe sex, physically and emotionally, and she helps readers establish personal ground rules. But as a sexual liberationist and a feminist, her core belief is that, between consenting adults, all sexual behaviors are a matter of personal choice. Whether you're trying to reignite the passion with a longtime spouse, or explore new terrain with a new lover, Nina offers a variety of ideas to achieve exhilarating, deeply satisfying, intimate, and profoundly liberating sex.

About the Author: Nina Hartley is a sexual entertainer, activist, educator, and registered nurse, who has starred in hundreds of adult entertainment films and videos, including Boogie Nights. As a "feminist porn star" and sex educator, Nina has taken her positive message to college campuses nationwide. Working with her husband and collaborator, I. S. LEVINE, together they've created a bestselling series of Instructional Videos.

Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex
(Avery; October 19, 2006; ISBN: 1583332634)
Available at: Amazon.com / Amazon UK 

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