Synopses & Reviews
If Colette had studied science and spent time listening to icebergs in Antarctica and interviewing a professional nose in New York, she might have written a book as luscious and erudite as A Natural History of the Senses. In the course of this grand tour of the realm of the senses, Diane Ackerman writes about the evolution of the kiss, the sadistic cuisine of eighteenth-century England, the chemistry of pain, and the melodies of the planet Earth with an evocativeness and charm that make the book itself a marvel of literate sensuality.
Synopsis
"Delightful...gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in." The New York Times
Synopsis
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)