Bookshelf

Alumni and faculty members who would like to have their books considered for this listing should contact Stacey Himmelberger, editor of Hamilton magazine. This list, which dates back to 2018, is updated periodically with books appearing alphabetically on the date of entry.

Understanding the Brain: Stress, Trauma and the LGBTQ Community, 2nd Ed. by David Balog ’79.

January 7, 2026

Tags Alumni Book

(self-published, 2025).

In this slim volume, the author explores the science of sexuality and why understanding the brain’s role in determining gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender expression is imperative to alleviating discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community.

“Evidence is accumulating that the brain plays a crucial role in the determination of sexual orientation and gender identity,” Balog notes. “We must look at pre-natal development, the crucial time in the mother’s womb when changes, fueled by hormones, affect the development of the fetus and set in place structures in the brain that will impact sexual development throughout a lifetime.”

The author cites Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel, who said, “Brain science can be a liberating influence in our lives. As we understand the biology of our own gender identity and sexual orientation better and become more comfortable with ourselves, we’ve become more empathic to somebody else’s identity and orientation.”