The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist

By: Ben Barres, Nancy Hopkins - foreword

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Ben Barres was known for his groundbreaking scientific work and for his groundbreaking advocacy for gender equality in science. In this book, completed shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in December 2017, Barres (born Barbara Barres in 1954) describes a life full of remarkable accomplishments - from his childhood as a precocious math and science whiz to his experiences as a female student at MIT in the 1970s to his female-to-male transition in his 40s to his scientific work and role as teacher and mentor at Stanford.

Barres recounts his early life - his interest in science, first manifested as a fascination with the mad scientist in Superman; his academic successes; and his gender confusion. Barres felt even as a very young child that he was assigned the wrong gender. After years of being acutely uncomfortable in his own skin, Barres transitioned from female to male. As an undergraduate at MIT, Barres experienced discrimination, but it was after transitioning that he realized how differently male and female scientists are treated. This led him to become an advocate for gender equality in science.

©2018 Society for Neuroscience (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

good just skip over the scientific part if ur not a scientist lol

its a great look at ben’s life. just skip the parts about science lol

as a trans person i felt connected to what ben described as gender dysphoria very much in a way i could not to a lot of other transgender media

Ben Barres’ autobiography breaks barriers for all

Reading this very personal story was a great privilege. It touched me personally as a scientist, mentor, female, and person of color. Thank you Ben Barres for the many lessons you’ve taught us and the great legacy you’ve left for us that includes an amazing number of scientific children! Imas a reader, if you want to live in a world where gender bias is a thing of the past in all walks of life this is a must read!

Fantastic listen.

This was an eye opening book to listen to and I wish the author was still alive so that I could write to him about how much this meant to me to hear. The grit and perserverence of LGBTQ+, especially trans people, is astounding.

Narrator is hard to listen to

The narrator for the audiobook sounds AI generated and unnatural. I feel like I’m listening to that voice on a corporate phone tree saying “press 1 if you know your account number.” I have listened to dozens of audiobooks, and this is one of the hardest to listen to. The content is great, so I kept going.

Happy I listened

The narration is a bit boring and robotic. But it’s quick and I enjoyed it overall. Ben Barres seems like someone I would have enjoyed knowing and I’m glad I know his story.

Inspiring

A great treatise in humanity, inequality and tolerance in a life of a fellow believer of the greatness of scientific discovery. May his soul finds rest.

Some chapters very technical

Good story but there is a section that is very technical, about the research his team has been working on, that was mostly over my head. But story before and after this is inspiring!

Surprised by amount of neuroscience but loved it

I was shocked by essentially the 2nd half of the book just being about neuroscience, but as a neuroscientist myself, it was a welcome surprise. I'm also shocked that I wasn't familiar with the author, since they're responsible for so much seminal work. I really enjoyed this whole book, but just be aware that the 2nd half is a lot of science.

Too much scientific gibberish

I wanted to hear a little more detail about what happened during his transition besides just about his career the majority of the book. There were many scenarios where Ben talked about how he was being sexualized but left out specific context . I expected the book to be more about his transition than his whole college education three times over . Towards the end of the book, he mentioned what went on during his mentorship with students and just talked all scientifically as if we knew his knowledge. Overall, I wouldn't say this read was a waste but if it wasn't an assignment I probably wouldn't have read it .

Amazingly Unscientific Academic Dishonesty

Yes, this is what American’s supposedly finest academic institutions are pushing on American youth and society, advancing their own personal feelings and theories in the name of “science”.

This “scientist” might be correct in her/his conclusions regarding cellular function and neurology. However, given that she/he first presents the reader with her/his own unvalidated non-scientific beliefs that she/he claims to be science-based explanations, it’s a bit difficult to then buy into the brilliance of her/his supposedly objective neuroscientific hypotheses.

First, the non-existence of God: There is millennia’s worth of empirical evidence for the existence of God, and zero evidence for the non-existence of God.

Second, Trangender Theory: The author tries to add what she/he sees as adding to the “scientific” explanation of Transgender “knowledge”, based on unreplicatable and highly unusual personal genetics combined with personal family history and subjective personal feelings. Not exactly the best example of scientific method.

The author’s own personal decision to be transgender is based on the testosterone hormones that his mother was given prenatally (even though his twin experienced none of the same outcomes), as well as the “feelings” that she had as a little girl and teen. No consideration is given to the idea that perhaps her attraction to “male” toys & attitudes might have been influenced by obviously dysfunctional family dynamics, nor to disturbing experiences as a teen, nor to the (very real)obstacles caused by gender discrimination in the workplace in the 1960’s-1970’s, that interferes with her career advancement.

Sadly, the author is born with MRKH syndrome, an exceptionally rare syndrome that affects only females with 46 XX chromosomes. At one point she is tested, hoping that the tests will reveal 46 XY, so that she will have scientific proof that she is actually a male. And yes, that WOULD have been actual scientific proof, were that the actual outcome. XY chromosomes are objective, factual, scientific proof. However, the author chooses to ignore this evidence, and embraces Transgender lifestyle based on her/his own “feelings” of maleness. Choosing a Transgender identity for her/himself is a personal decision, which happily seems to be working for this college Professor, but not a decision based on scientific evidence.

This author’s own exceptionally rare personal circumstance of receiving testosterone prenatally, (a therapy no longer prescribed to mothers prenatally), combined with the extremely rare MRKH genetic syndrome, and then attempting to correlate this unusual circumstance with the current Transgender movement, is the antithesis of a scientific approach. So I strongly caution other readers to not other accept any of the tenants of this book as “scientific truths “.