A Natural History of the Senses
by Diane Ackerman
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Book Reviews of A Natural History of the Senses
Book Review: Staying alive
Summary: 4 Stars
Recommended by a friend, this wonderful exploration of our apprehension extensions was an excellent follow-up to Tor Norretranders' THE USER ILLUSION (Viking Penguin, 1998). Where the latter work explained how tiny our conscious awareness is in relation to our total mental process, Ackerman's HISTORY is a delicious jacuzzi-soak in each of the five nerve groupings we call smell, touch, taste, hearing and sight. From the origin of the modern brain as a swelling of the olfactory bulb, to therapeutic massage, ritual cannabilism, the whistling of bats and the unifying vision of our era -- the Apollo photo of Big Blue -- Ackerman leads us to "synesthesia" -- the interactivation of one sense with others, a caleidescope of input and thought. The author is part science writer and part voluptuary, attending a conference or languidly enjoying an aromatic massage with (almost) equal delectation. One exits this book ready to smell more sensitively, taste more thoughtfully, touch loved ones more often, and take time to discern nuances of sound and sight. Like a leap from sauna to snow bank, Ackerman's HISTORY is a refreshing reminder of the mutliple delights of being alive.Book Review: This book changed my life...
Summary: 5 Stars
I read "A Natural History of the Senses" about ten years ago just a few months out of art school. I thought that I was fully engaged in the world and was aware of all that was around me. I soon learned that I was mistaken. I had been moving through the world virtually half-asleeep, just pushing my way through crowds and not really paying attention. I began opening myself fully to all experiences (through my senses) and I started to feel alive in a new way. I began a slow but steady transformation that has meant everything to me. Touch moved me most and eventually I went back to school and became a Massage Therapist. I am able, not only to experience my world in a new way; but I am also able to share something as comforting as massage with someone else. That is truly amazing!!Diane Ackerman's style is enlightening and poetic. A Natural History of the Senses is one of those books that you share with good friends and read over and over again. I still have my very first paperback copy (now autographed and a bit tattered) and it inspires me to be aware every day!
Book Review: A New Look At Our World
Summary: 5 Stars
This is such a delight of a book! Diane Ackerman takes the time to stop and smell the roses... well smell, touch, taste, hear and see the rose. Even though the five senses are our only way of knowing the world for the most part we just take them for granted-but no more!
Taking each of these senses in turn Ackerman delves into every aspect imaginable of that sense- cultural, psychological and historical. While usually few things frustrate me more than an unfocused writer that is not the case in this work. Ackerman is not so much trying to head anywhere, as she is trying to explore these topics, so her meanderings are delightful rather than aggravating.
The single most impressive thing about this book is how researched it seems to be. While Ackerman's insights and style certainly are not insignificant the enlightening (and sometimes strange) facts that fill this book make it so enjoyable to spend a lazy afternoon with. This was my first book by Diane Ackerman but it will certainly not be my last!
Book Review: Delightful prose and broad brush strokes of wonder!
Summary: 4 Stars
DA has a wonderful writing style that makes reading her book a sensory pleasure in its own. At the risk of sounding sexist, it must be mentioned that the power of this book lies in the wonderfully delicate and detailed descriptions of the various senses and their experiences. While DA has chosen a subject that is reasonably biological, it is her descriptive flair for the minutiae, her almost artistic way of writing and her sense of joy and wonder which she conveys; all make this book a wonderfully engrossing tale about our sense organs. While DA succeeds at opening our eyes (and ears, nose.... etc) to the world around us, perhaps the only shortcoming of the book lies in creating expectations in the reader of a rigorous treatment in the biological/evolutionary development of the sense organs. The reader seeking such a detailed analysis of the senses and their development would be served better by looking elsewhere. However, this book is a tasty little morsel and food for thought.
Definitely worth a read.
Book Review: Interesting and beautifully written
Summary: 5 Stars
It is no surprise that author Diane Ackerman has also written several books of poetry. Her poet's sensibility is certainly put to good use here. She uses beautiful, evocative prose to consummate what is clearly a long-standing love affair with the five senses. Although this book is well-reasoned and researched, including much fascinating information about how the senses operate, this is not really a rigorously scientific book. Rather, it is a collection of essays that often have little apparent connection to each other apart from the particular sense under discussion. One moment we might be reading about the latest (at the time of publication) scientific findings about our sense of smell; on the next page we may encounter profiles of people who work as professional smellers for the perfume industry; from there we might move to Ackerman's own garden or a memory of time spent in a eucalyptus grove. The result is an interesting, highly idiosyncratic journey through our senses and what they mean to us.