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Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in."—The New York Times. (Literature—Classics & Contemporary)
In a celebration of our ability to smell, taste, touch, hear, and see, Ackerman weaves together scientific facts with lore, history, and description to create an enchanting account of how humans experience the world.
| Introduction | ||
| In Every Sense | xv | |
| Smell | 3 | |
| The Mute Sense | 5 | |
| A Map of Smell | 6 | |
| Of Violets and Neurons | 9 | |
| The Shape of Smell | 11 | |
| Buckets of Light | 15 | |
| The Winter Palace of Monarchs | 18 | |
| The Oceans Inside Us | 20 | |
| Notions and Nations of Sweat | 21 | |
| The Personality of Smell | 23 | |
| Pheromones | 26 | |
| Noses | 30 | |
| Sneezing | 31 | |
| Smell As Camouflage | 32 | |
| Roses | 33 | |
| The Fallen Angel | 37 | |
| Anosmia | 40 | |
| Prodigies of Smell | 44 | |
| A Famous Nose | 45 | |
| An Offering to the Gods | 54 | |
| Cleopatra's Heirs | 59 | |
| Touch | 65 | |
| The Feeling Bubble | 67 | |
| Speaking of Touch | 70 | |
| First Touches | 71 | |
| What is a Touch? | 80 | |
| The Code Senders | 83 | |
| Hair | 84 | |
| The Inner Climate | 88 | |
| The Skin Has Eyes | 94 | |
| Adventures In the Touch Dome | 96 | |
| Animals | 98 | |
| Tattoos | 99 | |
| Pain | 101 | |
| Easing Pain | 104 | |
| The Point of Pain | 106 | |
| Kissing | 108 | |
| The Hand | 115 | |
| Professional Touchers | 119 | |
| Taboos | 121 | |
| Subliminal Touch | 122 | |
| Taste | 125 | |
| The Social Sense | 127 | |
| Food and Sex | 130 | |
| The Omnivore's Picnic | 132 | |
| Of Cannibalism and Sacred Cows | 135 | |
| The Bloom of a Taste Bud | 138 | |
| The Ultimate Dinner Party | 143 | |
| Macabre Meals | 146 | |
| The Heart of Craving | 148 | |
| The Psychopharmacology of Chocolate | 153 | |
| In Praise of Vanilla | 157 | |
| The Truth About Truffles | 161 | |
| Ginger, and Other Medicines | 163 | |
| How to Make Moose Soup In a Hole in the Ground, or Dine in Space | 165 | |
| Et Fugu, Brute? Food as Thrill-Seeking | 167 | |
| Beauty and the Beasts | 171 | |
| Hearing | 173 | |
| The Hearing Heart | 175 | |
| Phantoms and Drapes | 180 | |
| Jaguar of Sweet Laughter | 182 | |
| Loud Noises | 186 | |
| The Limits of Hearing, the Power of Sound | 188 | |
| Deafness | 191 | |
| Animals | 193 | |
| Quicksand and Whale Songs | 198 | |
| The Violin Remembers | 202 | |
| Music and Emotion | 205 | |
| Is Music a Language? | 209 | |
| Measure for Measure | 216 | |
| Cathedrals in Sound | 219 | |
| Earth Calling | 222 | |
| Vision | 227 | |
| The Beholder's Eye | 229 | |
| How to Watch the Sky | 235 | |
| Light | 249 | |
| Color | 252 | |
| Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall | 257 | |
| Animals | 260 | |
| The Painter's Eye | 267 | |
| The Face of Beauty | 270 | |
| Watching a Night Launch of the Space Shuttle | 279 | |
| The Force of an Image: Ring Cycle | 281 | |
| The Round Walls of Home | 283 | |
| Synesthesia | 287 | |
| Fantasia | 289 | |
| Courting the Muse | 292 | |
| Postscript | 301 | |
| Further Reading | 311 | |
| Index | 317 |
Anonymous
Posted April 15, 2004
I had to buy this book for a college class. I must say I thought this book was written by a quirky woman who lives in some old mansion with 50 cats or something. In many parts, it gets so sappy that I can barely read it. There are some interesting stories in it nevertheless, but for the most part, it's like reading sugar x 10. I wouldn't recommend it.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 17, 2004
I read this book a long time ago but I was so impressed with her writing style that I keep going back to it. THis book takes numbness of life away.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 1, 2001
Enchanting and informative, this book leads you through each of the human senses. Ackerman is in top form
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Posted November 1, 2008
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Overview
Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in."—The New York Times. (Literature—Classics & Contemporary)
In a celebration of our ability to ...