Lots of interesting ideas here. I think the idea of focusing on "ingressive" versus "congressive" approaches might be a useful way forward.


Review copy provided by publisher.

Thank you so much to netgalley for sending me a copy of this audiobook. I unfortunately didn’t finish this book because I didn’t really care for it very much.

I received an audiobook ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

I was immediately drawn to this book by its title, and when I read the synopsis, I knew I had to listen to it! Eugenia Cheng is a mathematician specialized in category theory, and she uses that field to look into gender inequality in the world. Category theory looks into context, relationships, and other influencing factors, showing how something can look different depending on context. Cheng explores the ways genders are currently looked at and makes an argument for how we should change that, applying traits to an individual person rather than categorizing all people by their gender.

I am sure there are a lot of people out there who would get concerned about reading this book because it is written by a mathematician. However, I promise this book is easily understood even if math isn't your forte. Rather than masculine and feminine, Cheng looks to categorizing things as ingressive (looking inward) and congressive (bringing the community together). I liked Cheng's look at how gender is currently understood in culture and how we should change things. Listening to the audiobook, Moira Quirk did a fabulous job of narrating!

The narrator is the strongest part of this audiobook. Really enjoyed listening to her voice! I found the book very interesting but there was A LOT of repetition. I also felt like that since it was pegged as a book by a mathematician, I expected more math, to be honest.

I listened to the audiobook version of x + y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender by Eugenia Cheng, the narrator Moira Quirk did an excellent job reading it.
A fascinating and brilliant new way of looking at gender and inequality. Don't let the math put you off, while it was a little hard to get through the first bit (probably because it can be hard for me to visualize math when I am only hearing it rather than reading it myself), the author does a great job explaining it and the larger part of the book is easy to grasp and so interesting.
Highly recommended.

I really loved the first half of the audiobook, however... I don't know if other people had this problem, but the audiobook stopped working for me about halfway through... It was only this specific audiobook that didn't work and I'm sure the people in charge will have already fixed this problem when the audio gets on the market, but I can't give this format a proper review or more than 3 stars. Lucky me that I managed to get my hands on the ebook version also from Netgalley. I'm going to write my full review of the book there, since I read most of it in that format,

"x+y" is a look at society and the issues that are associated with gender. This book investigates the subject using a mathematical approach, which is an interesting twist on the subject.

The book goes into depth with mathematical formulae and as an engineer, I enjoyed this for a change. Not my typical read! As it is so mathematical, I feel it may not be as accessible to some people.

A really interesting and unique look at gender through the lens of mathematics - as shown in the title. I'm a huge math nerd for someone who doesn't really understand the complexities of it, and to see it applied to a topic that I have personal interest in was really cool. I'll be re-reading this in print soon, as I think listening didn't really allow me to fully absorb the information, but it was a great listen for my work drives.

Another of Eugenia Chang's efforts to use the tools of mathematics to help people understand complex social constructs. I think there's a group for which this book would be incredibly useful and a group for whom this book is completely unnecessary. If you're a math person, or a logical person, and you're confused by gender discussions, or even opinionated about them and arguing, this book will help you. If you're not a math/logic person and are up on your gender identity politics this book might feel a little weird - do you need it explained why it's harmful to both genders when a trait is identified as masculine? This book answers that question really well.

This book is a really interesting take on feminism. There were definitely a lot of concepts that I didn't completely understand because I'm not a math person, but the author made it very accessible and easy to understand in context.

This book was great! I don't read much nonfiction, so I was worried I would drift off while listening, but there was really nothing to worry about! The author kept me engaged with vivid descriptions, relatable examples, and a compelling argument. There were many points that she brought up-- regarding the association of gender and character traits-- that I had never even considered before, and it was refreshing to hear about mathematical take on a sociological problem.

"X+Y" is described as a "mathematician's approach to gender roles" which I think sums up the whole book. Cheng's main argument was the idea of using mathematical theories in order to separate gender from behavior. She specifically talked about one theory in particular: Category Theory, which introduced new terminology to replace the concepts of "masculine" or "feminine" behavior with words like "congressive" and "ingressive". By taking gender out of the equation, the hope is to eliminate the negative connotations of people (specifically men/woman in STEM) acting in a more feminine/congressive way. Cheng preaches a societal shift towards congressive behavior, collaborative way of thinking and working with others, vs. ingressive behavior which is competitive and dominating.

There were many points in this book that I agreed with. For example: the new terminology. I think that creating new words to specifically identify behavioral traits without their gender ties is not only intriguing, but necessary. I also agree that more congressive behavior would benefit the world as whole, and create a more accepting community. However, there were also a few points I very much disagreed with. Ingressive behavior is rooted in competition, something that Cheng continuously frowned upon throughout the book. I think that competition is not always a bad thing, and in fact can be quite healthy sometimes. I also disagree with the idea that self-confidence without the validation of other people is an ingressive behavior, and therefore bad. Like-- what?? If I am confident in who I am, but others keep telling me I'm wrong, does that make me arrogant? No! It makes me someone who is strong enough to see my worth without others telling me so. That whole section of the book (chapter 6 I think?) really rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall: This book was wonderful. It opened up my mind to questioning the way we define gendered behavior, and it introduced new concepts to me that I had never thought of before. I highly recommend it to anyone searching for a new way to look at gender!

As a math teacher and an avid mathematics lover, I found this one quite enjoyable. The narrator had great pronunciation and an accent that made the audio enjoyable. The author presents arguments that are not necessarily for math minded people. Now she uses math to show the relationships and causes, focusing on specific math terminology at times, but overall it was relatively easy to understand and follow. She raises some great points about the gap between male and female success and earnings. The title was also very catchy.

An interesting take on gender disparities in society that attempts to solve the problem by completely sidestepping it: gender is correlated with traits that are valued in current society (and that society is set up to reward), thinking those traits are natural or perfectly related to gender (or to skills like math that are valued!) is a logical mistake, and it makes more sense to make society equitable for people with different levels of these traits. As another reviewer put it "Cheng is not arguing that all people are the same with the same abilities but takes issue with the division of character traits into “masculine” and “feminine”. She proposes instead a spectrum of character using two neologisms: “ingressive” (“going into things”) and “congressive” (“bringing things together”)."

I think Cheng has some work to do to prove that these traits are the important ones and there is a LOT of work to be done to make society value both congressive skills as much as ingressive (Cheng sketches out some of these in the last part of the book, but I think going into these suggestions could have been a full book by themselves).

Cheng is very good at explaining mathematical concepts and how they may relate to perceptions of differences between categories. The book is also a nice primer on logical thinking. On the whole an interesting, breezy listen.

As always, the Eugenia Cheng and Moira Quirk duo are a compulsively listenable combination. I love the enthusiasm Quirk has for Cheng's words and the thoughtfulness that Cheng brings to all her thoughts about the world. There is a lot to agree with here, though I would have liked more examples about how ingressive behaviour was detrimental. There were a few, but overall I think it was more just to be understood in many places.

Eugenia Cheng offers such a unique approach on what is typically viewed as a solely "social justice" issue.

"x + y" is a critical look at society's view on gender, gender roles, gender inequality and other gender-related issues. Different from other essay-type investigations on these topics, this book explores the subject using a mathematical approach. The author applies mathematical perspectives on data, as well as theories and processes to explore different types of data in a new light.

I will admit that there were times when the content went over my head. This is partially due to my consumption of the book through an audiobook format. This is even with a background in some tertiary-level statistics. In saying this, it is possible that those readers that aren't mathematically-inclined might struggle to follow the content.

Note: In the audio, the narrator refers to certain PDFs which provide visual components to help with comprehension. Unfortunately, I did not have access to this document.

In saying this, both the author, Cheng, and the narrator, Moira Quirk, did a great job simplifying the content and applying it in a unique, creative, and logical way.

I really hope that people involved in these particular fields, both mathematics and gender studies, pick up this book and look at the content as a new lens in which they can reframe the subjects discussed.

While this was an interesting take on gender, I don't know that I agree with her. But it was interesting.

As a twenty-five-year-old young woman trying to 'make it 'I hold a lot of anger for the mere fact of living in a male-dominated world, but never really considered this problem as something even remotely scientific. In "x + y," Eugenia Cheng proved me wrong and blew my brains out.

This audio/book's core idea is that gender inequality is a product of behavioral patters which are perpetuated without our full awareness, and it can be explained with a mathematical concept called category theory. Cheng goes very much into detail to explain this, which makes for a difficult but fascinating listen. I often felt the need to pause and take notes, which I'm really thankful I did for my own future reference. That being said, the only reason I'm giving it four stars instead of five is that I wish I had read this book alongside listening, as the listen alone required really full attention.

Cheng literally hands you a way to shut down the haters and the "educated white male" who always has a way of saying that gender inequality doesn't exist. I'm going to keep a list of quotes on hand SPECIFICALLY for this purpose.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The narration is lovely, but honestly I had difficulty following mathematical concepts via audio. I think it would have been easier to understand this book had I read it with my eyeballs.

This was a really interesting book that takes a different spin on the male-dominated social structure systems and how to better adapt them to individual needs, taking note of other texts like Invisible Women and the work of Cordelia Fine.

The idea that congressive thinking and actions could be more productive, inclusive and successful than ingressive strategies isn't something I have come across before; it shows the impact that these ways of thinking can have on the way we conduct ourselves and how we interact with others. I'm heartened to read (or listen to, thanks Netgalley!) yet another nonfiction book on gender that says a woman doesn't necessarily have to 'act like a man' in order to progress in their career and to be respected... that a more measured approach can work just as well.