Bibliograph

A natural history of the senses, Diane Ackerman

Type

Label

A natural history of the senses, Diane Ackerman

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [311]-315) and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

A natural history of the senses

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

20799461

Responsibility statement

Diane Ackerman

Summary

Ackerman weaves together scientific fact with lore, history, and description to celebrate our ability to smell, taste, hear, touch, and see

Table Of Contents

Smell. The mute sense -- A map of smell -- Of violets and neurons -- The shape of smell -- Buckets of light -- The winter palace of monarchs -- The oceans inside us -- Notions and nations of sweat -- The personality of smell -- Pheromones -- Noses -- Sneezing -- Smell as camouflage -- Roses -- The fallen angel -- Ansomia -- Prodigies of smell -- A famous nose -- An offering to the gods -- Cleopatra's heirs -- Touch. The feeling bubble -- Speaking of touch -- First touches -- What is a touch? -- The code senders -- Hair -- The inner climate -- The skin has eyes -- Adventures in the touch dome -- Animals -- Tattoos -- Pain -- Easing pain -- The point of pain -- Kissing -- The hand -- Professional touchers -- Taboos -- Subliminal touch -- Taste. The social sense -- Food and sex -- The omnivore's picnic -- Of cannibalism and sacred cows -- The bloom of a taste bud -- The ultimate dinner party -- Macabre meals -- The heart of cravingThe psychopharmacology of chocolate -- In praise of vanilla -- The truth about truffles -- Ginger and other medicines -- How to make moose soup in a hole in the ground, or dine in space -- Et fugu, Brute? : Food as thrill-seeking -- Beauty and the beasts -- Hearing. The hearing heart -- Phantoms and drapes -- Jaguar of sweet laughter -- Loud noises -- The limits of hearing, the power of sound -- Deafness -- Animals -- Quicksand and whale songs -- The violin remembers -- Music and emotion -- Is music a language? -- Measure for measure -- Cathedrals in sound -- Earth calling -- Vision. The beholder's eye -- How to watch the sky -- Light -- Color -- Why leaves turn color in the fall -- Animals -- The painter's eye -- The face of beauty -- Watching a night launch of the space shuttle -- The force of an image : ring cycle -- The round walls of home -- Synesthesia. Fantasia -- Courting the muse -- Postscript

Classification

Creator