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119th out of 2,083 books
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3,719 voters
A Natural History of the Senses
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...more
Quality Trade Paperback, 331 pages
Published
September 10th 1991
by Vintage
(first published 1990)
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Over a decade ago I picked up a book that changed my life. It was Diane Ackerman's "A Natural History of the Senses", and her humanist, holistic, sensitive approach to that most basic of subjects; how we sense the world, was a revelation. Her writing was inclusive and funny, at once deep and yet accessible. She loved to explore complex issues like the olfactory system, or the sounding of whales, and to take the reader along on that exploration. Science was no longer dry and I was no longer exclu...more
Well, the title is quite misleading. Each chapter (Smell, Touch, Taste, Hearing, Vision, and Synesthesia) seems to be a loose assemblage of thoughts, often only tenuously tied to the sense supposedly being discussed. For example, I'm still trying to figure out why she wrote about quicksand in the hearing chapter. In the Synesthesia chapter, she starts a section by talking about some writers who had synesthesia, but then it devolves into pages and pages of quirks writers had (who liked to write s...more
The more I read of this book, the more I wanted it to be over. I enjoyed the small tidbits of information and etymology facts dispersed far and too few between her grandiose anecdotes but I really couldn't get over how proud of herself Ackerman seems to be. It was just exhausting hearing about all the wonderful sensory experiences she's had. I get it. I've had my own, even if they weren't while exploring Antarctica or vacationing in the exotic middle-east as a college student. Uhg.
She didn't re...more
She didn't re...more
This book was really hard to get through. The only reason I even finished it is that she did include a few really interesting facts about the senses. But her writing style is torturous!!!!! She writes in this really flowery style with way too many metaphors and adjectives that don't even make sense! Here's one: "Craving the dialect of cities, I forgot the way deer steal into the yard with their big hearts and fragile dreams". What??? There's no context for this and it doesn't make any sense. Thi...more
I was given this book as a high school graduation present from two retired high school teachers and it proved to be one of my all time favorites. It should be required reading for any human being. You will learn fascinating things like that we can identify only 10,000 different tastes and anything else you've ever wanted to know about your senses. It's fascinating and mind blowing.
At once history, biology, and anthropology this book explores the 5 senses from a variety of perspectives. Ackerman writes with intense imagery that can be beautiful or brutal. Memorable indeed was a discussion of the cultural evolution of flavor, complete with a medieval recipe for cooking a LIVE goose. I loved her discussion of how smell is the sense most closely linked to memory (which explains why sometimes, washing my hands in public bathrooms, I get instantly transported back to kindergart...more
this one had me going for a while, but i got exhausted with ackerman's far-reaching metaphors and frequent digressions. they always say digression in nonfiction is good, it allows the reader to make a deeper connection; it was intriguing at the beginning of this book but i reached the penultimate chapter, on vision, and she's hardly expounding on vision at all--just describing one fantastic sight after another, and that only does half the job in achieving her goal of exploring the senses. so, on...more
Although all te essays were interesting on their own, sometimes they extended the theme a little farther than what I wanted to read. I really wanted to focus on the senses and to read a more scientific perspective. The essays therein were more fluid than that.
I've read other Ackerman books and have enjoyed them thoroughly. I think it is best, however, to approach Ackerman with no agenda. At times, I would get a little frustrated with some of the essays; "what does sky have to do with sight?" I f...more
I've read other Ackerman books and have enjoyed them thoroughly. I think it is best, however, to approach Ackerman with no agenda. At times, I would get a little frustrated with some of the essays; "what does sky have to do with sight?" I f...more
Ever heard a song or smelt a perfume that took you suddenly and unexpectedly back to another time and place? "What is most amazing is not how our senses span distance or cultures, but how they span time. Our senses connect us intimately with the past, connect us in ways that most of our cherished ideas never could."
I've just finished reading A Natural History of the Senses, a book published in 1990 by Diane Ackerman, a poet and essayist who has gone on to publish two more books following the the...more
I've just finished reading A Natural History of the Senses, a book published in 1990 by Diane Ackerman, a poet and essayist who has gone on to publish two more books following the the...more
Aug 28, 2011
Valerie
added it
I really couldn't make my way through this. I may have another go some day, but it's one of the things I keep putting off.
For one thing, I've never really accepted the canonical notion of 'five senses'. I kept waiting for discussion of the other senses. Where are the discussions of (for example) the barometric sense?
For that matter, what about people with sensitivity outside the norm in the 'standard' five senses? Whenever I see people on news shows saying they can't assess the damage in storms...more
For one thing, I've never really accepted the canonical notion of 'five senses'. I kept waiting for discussion of the other senses. Where are the discussions of (for example) the barometric sense?
For that matter, what about people with sensitivity outside the norm in the 'standard' five senses? Whenever I see people on news shows saying they can't assess the damage in storms...more
I guess it helps if you have a crush on the author of the book you are reading. What can I say? It happens. But smitten or not, this was a delight.
The first two books I reported on by poet turned naturalist Diane Ackerman chronicled her adventures in pursuit of rare and wonderful wildlife: bats, whales, penguins, etc.
In “A Natural History of the Senses” she turned inward, exploring we humans and the way we experience our world.
“We tend to see distant past through a reverse telescope that compr...more
The first two books I reported on by poet turned naturalist Diane Ackerman chronicled her adventures in pursuit of rare and wonderful wildlife: bats, whales, penguins, etc.
In “A Natural History of the Senses” she turned inward, exploring we humans and the way we experience our world.
“We tend to see distant past through a reverse telescope that compr...more
This lovely book is my favorite non-fiction book I've ever read--it's full of stories about famous and historically important people's reactions to various smells, sights, things they've heard, felt and tasted. I love the section about Napoleon and Josephine and how at one point he asks her not to bathe until he sees her again so he could breathe in her au naturel odor which apparently drove him crazy! That's passion, baby! I've read this book several times which is not something I'm usually in...more
I learned:
A piece of fugu (puffer fish) toxin, small enough to fit under a fingernail, is enough to kill someone mid-meal. The real fugu expert chef can leave just enough toxin in a soup for your lips to tingle but not to kill.
I found some of the scientific explanations rather booooring. Then when she tried to be poetic or metaphorical, sometimes it would work and at other times, it seemed melodramatic, insincere, or ridiculous. Also the topics and scenarios just seemed to flit from one to anot...more
A piece of fugu (puffer fish) toxin, small enough to fit under a fingernail, is enough to kill someone mid-meal. The real fugu expert chef can leave just enough toxin in a soup for your lips to tingle but not to kill.
I found some of the scientific explanations rather booooring. Then when she tried to be poetic or metaphorical, sometimes it would work and at other times, it seemed melodramatic, insincere, or ridiculous. Also the topics and scenarios just seemed to flit from one to anot...more
Dec 11, 2007
Elizabeth
added it
I remember her passages on smells and taste, Very evocative. Another one to jump into where the book falls open, not one i consumed from front to back. I enjoyed it tremendously and it awakened my perceptions for awhile, but lost interest in the middle of the Hearing section. My copy is well worn and appears to be soaked with water, oddly enough becoming a sensual document itself. Great reminder here. Maybe I'll pick it up again.
Perhaps I'm too left-brained for this book, but for me, reading "A Natural History of the Senses" is like drowning in quicksand. Ackerman divides the book into six sections: Smell, Touch, Taste, Hearing, Vision and Synesthesia. There are many things I don't like about the book, but I will admit that she is consistent. By that I mean, that she consistently annoys me.
From the beginning she is over-the-top poetic in her narrative using flowery language and overusing literary imagery such as metaph...more
From the beginning she is over-the-top poetic in her narrative using flowery language and overusing literary imagery such as metaph...more
I enjoyed this book although the authors facts aren't always correct. For example she talks about the Hopi god, "Mais" and there aren't Hopi gods, let alone one named Mais.
That being said, there are many interesting and surprising facts in thus book that I never would have known. One of the more amazing ones is that both Faulkner and Joyce were synesthetes, meaning they could see letters and sounds represented as colors when spoken. A number of other writers, composers and artist were also syne...more
That being said, there are many interesting and surprising facts in thus book that I never would have known. One of the more amazing ones is that both Faulkner and Joyce were synesthetes, meaning they could see letters and sounds represented as colors when spoken. A number of other writers, composers and artist were also syne...more
Oops: I just left it in the airplane with a few pages left. Oh well.
My indifference to my loss says something. Ackerman's systematic attack of the senses is interesting and fact-filled, but ultimately not cohesive or exciting enough to keep me engaged.
She does a wonderful job of scattering random tidbits of history, scientific fact, literature references, language idioms, and famous quotations into a flood of the different ways we use our senses to perceive. Though some of these are fun and int...more
My indifference to my loss says something. Ackerman's systematic attack of the senses is interesting and fact-filled, but ultimately not cohesive or exciting enough to keep me engaged.
She does a wonderful job of scattering random tidbits of history, scientific fact, literature references, language idioms, and famous quotations into a flood of the different ways we use our senses to perceive. Though some of these are fun and int...more
I bought this book a number of years ago because I was attracted by three things that normally do not lead me to purchase a book, especially not a new hardback. I was drawn to the title for the following reasons: 'senses' because I have only four – none of them particularly outstanding – and looked forward to someone explaining the fifth one to me in a way I could understand; 'natural' – who ever heard of unnatural senses; and 'history' so I could then explain to others that while a sense of sm...more
Here's what Barbara Kingsolver has to say about Diane Ackerman: "[She:] begins each summer day 'by choosing and arranging flowers for a Zenlike hour or so.' She listens to music obsessively, then speed-walks for an hour, every single day. 'I don't know whether this helps or not,' she allows... 'My muse is male, has the radiant, silvery complexion of the moon, and never speaks to me directly.'"
Please read that last line again. A lot of this book sounds like that, although usually it's not quite s...more
Please read that last line again. A lot of this book sounds like that, although usually it's not quite s...more
...Eh.
I enjoyed the general idea of A Brief History of the Senses - taking it for what it is, which is a fairly light depiction of the importance of each of our five senses in our evolution, culture, and everyday survival - and Ackerman's luscious descriptions of such sense-stirring events as watching sunsets, sniffing roses, and eating chocolate. I was distracted, though, by the book's repetitiveness, and I found the author's tone to be unnecessarily smug: She continuously links her narration...more
I enjoyed the general idea of A Brief History of the Senses - taking it for what it is, which is a fairly light depiction of the importance of each of our five senses in our evolution, culture, and everyday survival - and Ackerman's luscious descriptions of such sense-stirring events as watching sunsets, sniffing roses, and eating chocolate. I was distracted, though, by the book's repetitiveness, and I found the author's tone to be unnecessarily smug: She continuously links her narration...more
A better title for this book would be, "Things I Know about the Senses (and Various other Subjects, Related and Unrelated)." The subject of the senses, of course, naturally divides itself into five neat chapters, but Ackerman isn't interested in any further organization. It's not her fault, of course, that she didn't write the book I wanted to read.
As far as knowledge goes, "A Natural History of the Senses" has plenty of breadth, but not much depth, and not many surprises. A few of the many thin...more
As far as knowledge goes, "A Natural History of the Senses" has plenty of breadth, but not much depth, and not many surprises. A few of the many thin...more
A unique overview of how one reacts to the world. I don’t usually mark-up my books (not since school anyway) but years ago when I read this, I was compelled to underline sentences and passages throughout. I spent this evening browsing through the chapters and rediscovering the many revelations. Did you know that Balzac drank over fifty cups of coffee a day, and died from caffeine poisoning? Or, that not only are cows considered sacred in India, but also the dust in their footprints? Or, Helen Ke...more
Jan 02, 2011
Susan
added it
As I prepare for a Nia retreat (called Come to Your Senses) in April, I am rereading Diane Ackerman's amazing book. In my life I have read hundreds of books and I can count the ones I've read twice on one hand. This will be the third time I've read this and it is just as delicious as I remember.
From the introduction:
"To begin to understand the gorgeous fever that is consciousness, we must try to understand the senses -- how they evolved, how they can be extended, what their limits are, to which...more
From the introduction:
"To begin to understand the gorgeous fever that is consciousness, we must try to understand the senses -- how they evolved, how they can be extended, what their limits are, to which...more
A cross-discipline examination of how we experience the world, and the role each of the senses plays in our concept of existence. Though at first somewhat too unstructured for my taste, I relaxed into going with her flow and enjoyed many of the tidbits she presented, especially her etymological factoids regarding common words. Unfortunately it continually reminded me of my upcoming colorectal surgery, wondering about the future limitations to my enjoyment of the world in terms of endurance and m...more
Jul 30, 2011
BHodges
added it
Ackerman is a true sensuist. Her poetic prose is only part of the reason this book ought to be read. She explores smell, touch, taste, hearing, and vision, and briefly extends the discussion into our other unlabeled senses. Seriously a beautiful book, I highly recommend it. It increased my own awareness of my senses.
"To begin to understand the gorgeous fever that is consciousness, we must try to understand the senses--how they evolved, how they can be extended, what their limits are, to which o...more
"To begin to understand the gorgeous fever that is consciousness, we must try to understand the senses--how they evolved, how they can be extended, what their limits are, to which o...more
4 stars for the massive amount of research that has gone into writing this book, and for Ackerman's evident love of nature and our universe. I enjoyed all the anecdotes and scientific findings she has shared. She does go completely overboard on occasion - the sky, for instance, is described in the chapter on vision as "Each night the sunset surged with purple pampas-grass plumes, and shot fuchsia rockets into the pink sky, then deepened through folded layers of peacock green to all the blues of...more
Fascinating and wide ranging. I love these rambling, train-of-thought explorations of topics, so this book literally* reached out and grabbed me by the wrist when I came accross it in a used book store attached to a reclaimed building materials store in Charlotte, NC.
Diane Ackerman runs through the senses one by one, from smell to vision, with illuminations from science, myth, literature and more. Both the world we percieve with our senses and the workings of those senses are under analysis here...more
Diane Ackerman runs through the senses one by one, from smell to vision, with illuminations from science, myth, literature and more. Both the world we percieve with our senses and the workings of those senses are under analysis here...more
I learned a lot by reading this book and though a lot of it was technical science regarding the five senses, a lot also was cultural and sociological. Plus the author has a poetic touch that makes the prose a joy to read. This is the type of "science" book that should be required reading for teenagers. Grab the interest of the reader, make the anecdotes to support the science interesting and challenge the knowledge gained. I'd love to read this again sometime just for some of the specific insigh...more
hey! i finally finished this book! this was a pretty good book, something that i read in short bursts over a pretty long amount of time. i do take some issue with the title, i think it should be "my personal history of the senses."
this lady writes really beautifully most of the time about things that most people have a real hard time describing. so i liked that. i will definitely try to remember some of the word concoctions shes used and use them for myself when i am trying to show someone my se...more
this lady writes really beautifully most of the time about things that most people have a real hard time describing. so i liked that. i will definitely try to remember some of the word concoctions shes used and use them for myself when i am trying to show someone my se...more
A radically uneven book, with passages of lyrical beauty punctuated by an increasing sense of disorganization. It too often reads more like a glorified diary entry than an actual book, changing topics mid paragraph, digressing for two or three sentences and then snapping back to the topic at hand. And far too much of the narrative of each section focusses on anecdote and broad generalizations, with too many historically inaccurate statements (no, blue is not a colour historically associated with...more
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Diane Ackerman received her B.A. in English from Penn State and an M.F.A. and Ph.D. in English from Cornell University in 1978. Her dissertation advisor was Carl Sagan. From 1980 to 1983 she taught English at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has been married to novelist Paul West since 1970. She currently resides in Ithaca, New York. A collection of her manuscripts, writings and pap...more
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“Look at your feet. You are standing in the sky. When we think of the sky, we tend to look up, but the sky actually begins at the earth. We walk through it, yell into it, rake leaves, wash the dog, and drive cars in it. We breathe it deep within us. With every breath, we inhale millions of molecules of sky, heat them briefly, and then exhale them back into the world.”
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“Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world.”
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