A trained biologist and psychiatrist, Alexander Comfort's early career was devoted to the study of aging and a scholarly approach to sexual behavior. In 1972 he published one of the first bestsellers on sex, The Joy of Sex, which advocated greater sexual freedom. He then wrote about the psychological and sociological effects of "free love" in 1974's More Joy, and moved from England to California to continue writing and researching sexual behavior. Besides his impressive academic career and research on sex, aging and pacifism, Alex Comfort had a literary career, especially in the 1940s. His novels include No Such Liberty (1941), The Power House (1944) and On This Side Nothing (1949).