Breasts are celebrated and scrutinised, fetishised and censored, worshipped and weaponised. As the saying goes: ‘Behind every great woman is a pair of boobs trying desperately to stay out of the conversation.’

For most of her life, unconcernedly flat-chested author and academic Dr Lisa Portolan had never really thought about her breasts, or boobs in general. But then she met Amanda Goff—aka former escort Samantha X—fellow author, journalist and owner of a huge pair of breasts. A friendship formed, then a working relationship ... and as the two women embarked on business dealings together, the monolithic power of mammary glands became glaringly apparent.

All too often, men would ogle Amanda's chest in meetings, text her romantic/perverse messages, and try to get into her pants. The same men would focus their attention on Lisa's face, send her professional emails, and otherwise ignore her. Lisa was left pondering whether she should have her breasts augmented in order to become more visible, while Amanda wondered whether she should have hers reduced.

But they both found themselves asking the same question: why all the fuss about boobs?

Lisa and Amanda don't pretend to have all the answers—they're not even sure how they feel about them most of the time. But that's precisely the point. Boobs is a smart, irreverent, wide-ranging and often hilarious conversation about the human and social-historical journey of breasts, richly illustrated with personal anecdotes and perspectives from coauthors at opposite ends of the bust spectrum.

With its eclectic mix of chest-related topics—from our fixation with symmetry to the judgy debates about breastfeeding—Boobs celebrates our messy, often ridiculous and always complex relationship with these culturally charged appendages.