Boobs: A guide to your girls review

Author Elisabeth Squires – now Elisabeth Dale – is a well respected, high profile breast expert, and the founder of the website The Breast Life. She’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Tyra Banks Show and BBC World News speaking on her favourite topic, and has also contributed to such publications as The New York Times, Cosmopolitan and The Huffington Post site.

Elisabeth’s own experience inspires her work, in that being the daughter of a breast cancer survivor and having nursed three children, she’s ultra aware of her own breast health. She also freely admits to having undergone a surgical breast lift following considerable weight loss, and having experienced all letters of the alphabet on the bra-measuring scale.

bOObs was written as a result of personal recollections (‘mammoirs’), and is intended as an all-round examination of all things bust-related. In fact, very similarly to this site, readers receive information and advice on everything from lingerie to health care, aging and surgical options. As an extra bonus, the subject of breasts in the bedroom is also covered, and the author includes a handy personal journal at the back to record your bra fitting experiences, a pictorial and written log for your breast assessments and self-examinations, and space for your very own mammoirs.

In fact the whole book starts with a fun quiz (to discover your ‘Boob IQ’), which sets the tone for the rest of the journey. The author’s writing is warm, witty, accessible and informative, and she’s equally effective writing amusing anecdotes about ‘Bra-La Land’ and ‘Nip Slips’ as she is covering the more serious topics such as breast cancer. The layout of the book itself is particularly user-friendly, more akin to a magazine or website than many of the others reviewed on Let’s Talk Breasts, and it’s an easy book to pick up quickly to read all you need on one topic, or just for the sake of interest.

If you were to settle on only one volume on breasts and breast health for your bookshelf, this would be an excellent choice. Likewise it’s a wonderful springboard into the subject for any curious novice. My two criticisms (which are not levelled at the American author) would be that, for a UK audience, some of the issues covered differ in this country, and also that having been last published in 2007, bOObs is probably due for an update. Otherwise, I can’t recommend it highly enough.