cover image Real Man Tells All

Real Man Tells All

Peter N. Nelson, Pete Nelson. Penguin Books, $6.95 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-14-011075-3

Writes Nelson about his former column, ``His,'' in Mademoiselle: ``Most of the letters I got thanked me for finally saying things my readers had never heard the men they know say before.'' Here he collects those magazine pieces on male/female relationships, providing women with insight into the male mind. A variety of topics are covereddream dates, the ``New Macho,'' what men scheme about before a date, shopping with women (``a guided tour through a foreign land''), Playboy (``I do not expect the real women I know to look like bunnies''), and men as sex objects. Humor in bed, kissing (``Putting our softest parts in proximity to our most dangerous, lips to teeth''), sex (``one of the least rational or intellectual things we do, just behind pro wrestling'') and birth control (``just another way of getting to know each other'') are treated as well. Skilled at fusing the appropriate words for romance and heartbreak, the author concludes that ``the real language of love is nonverbal.'' Women who want to spend an amusing and thoughtful weekend will pick up Nelson. (June)