Rating: 
Summary: Poetic & Informative
Review: "A Natural History of the Senses" by Diane Ackerman is such a wonderful book; poetic and informative, it is among the best creative non-fiction that I have found. After having read the book, I find myself taking extra care when I touch my husband, listen to the sounds around me, and eat and experience food.I love to acquire knowledge about, everything, and I love to do it by reading unfortunately, I have a short attention span when it comes to reading the usual book or journal entry about science or health. While this book only touches the surface of the senses and the how and why of them; she only has so much space after all, Ackerman gives the reader enough information about the senses so that the reader can go research more about the subjects if she is so inclined. Ackerman's literate and scientific mind combined with her masterful and poetic use of language has created a wonderful book and if I could give this another ½ star, I would.
Rating:
Summary: Poetic & Informative
Review: "A Natural History of the Senses" by Diane Ackerman is such a wonderful book; poetic and informative, it is among the best creative non-fiction that I have found. After having read the book, I find myself taking extra care when I touch my husband, listen to the sounds around me, and eat and experience food. I love to acquire knowledge about, everything, and I love to do it by reading unfortunately, I have a short attention span when it comes to reading the usual book or journal entry about science or health. While this book only touches the surface of the senses and the how and why of them; she only has so much space after all, Ackerman gives the reader enough information about the senses so that the reader can go research more about the subjects if she is so inclined. Ackerman's literate and scientific mind combined with her masterful and poetic use of language has created a wonderful book and if I could give this another ½ star, I would.
Rating: 
Summary: Different strokes...
Review: A Natural History of the Senses is probably not the kind of book
you might expect a "real" guy to read. Well, I am and I did, and I truly enjoyed most of what Diane Ackerman wrote. Unfortunately, like many books, it loses something of its wallop as your read progresses but I found the early chapters sensually intense and explicit to the point of jogging memory of exotic places and scents almost forgotten. In my opinion well worth the invested time. "Thanks for the memories".
Rating:
Summary: Diane Ackerman, a poet who makes science poetic!
Review: A Natural History of the Senses, is the kind of book you can open at any place and find yourself enthralled by the use of words. You are instantly propelled into your own experiences with your memories of your senses. Beth Sawatzky
Rating:
Summary: Poetic, sensuous and smart reading
Review: A page-turner about how our bodies work and why we are the way we are.
This is a beautiful gift for someone you love...or for someone you want to fall in love with.
Rating:
Summary: Popcorn for your brain!
Review: A poetic look at the science which surrounds our senses. Terribly fascinating -- as evidenced by the dog eared condition of my copy. Read it, re-read it, and re-re-read it: you will still find something new to intrigue you
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous book.
Review: A sensuous excursion well worth the taking. Also a good prescription for those of us who need more grounding in the here-and-now details. -- Craig Chalquist, M.S. - "Cain's Self-Exploration Site:"
Rating:
Summary: Having your cake and eating it
Review: Ackerman's florid style captures the reader from the first page. Her "sense-luscious" description of the world seizes your imagination, compelling you to learn what she means. What she means is then paraded before you as a wealth of information clothed in descriptive finery [see how catching it can be?!]. It turns out that the more imagination you possess, the more attuned to the world you can be. If that sounds vague, it's because it is - and it sets the tone for this book. Ackerman has a great store of metaphor and illustration to draw upon, and little is left out. Her prose leaves the reader breathless with its powerful, flowery, imagery. Add the semblance of scientific references as a decor and you seem to have a book of meaningful insights. What you really have is a sense of exhaustion.
The book's organisation is readily assumed. The five senses are marched by, each bearing samplings of how they work in humans and the other animals. She declares that nothing is "more memorable than a smell", although it's humanity's weakest sense. She reminds us that we are predators because our eyes are in front, granting us binocular vision, instead of at the side like prey species needing to keep watch. Touch evokes a wealth of sketchy assertions about "caring", especially for babies. The babies aren't just human, giving that aspect of life a universality reaching beyond generations of teachings. In dealing with taste, she portrays the Roman elite, with its extravagant behaviour as representing all society. Hearing, of course, raises the "tree falling in the forest" question, to which Ackerman responds with a firm "No", since our brain failed to interpret the quivering air thus displaced. Helen Keller's pronouncements are given much attention, while Beethoven is granted two partial comments, which turn out to be Deryck Cooke's assessment.
Reading Ackerman is rather like taking the ingredients of a cake and consuming them without mixing or baking. There's a feeling of satiated fullness afterward, but the plethora of different flavours isn't anything as pleasing as a finished cake would have been. There's much information here, but Ackerman's style is such that you feel compelled to rush through it to see what new metaphors or opulent phrases will arise. She decribes numerous studies and research, but we never learn who did them, when or under what circumstances. Her reading list only turns out to be more of the same type of presentation, although clearly none of her "references" is up to her prose quality. But then, none of them are poets. A fun read, and a worthy source to dazzle cocktail party colleagues. Just make certain none of the other guests knows any physiology.
[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: A cultural, creative, and sensory delight
Review: After reading a few of Ackerman's New Yorker pieces, as well as The Moon by Whale Light and her contribution to Sisters of the Earth, I knew I would eventually read all of her books. A Natural History of the Senses does not disappoint. It flows like cool water through literature, history, music, politics, philosophy, and poetry. As a writer, I appreciate this book as a resource of my own, a way to deepen my understanding of our sensory appreciation of the world - but also as an example of beautiful writing by a master of the craft.
In a nutshell, I wish Diane Ackerman lived next door to me.
Rating:
Summary: A Natural History of the Senses arouses!
Review: As a gift from a loving son I wandered into this impressively researched & fluently written expose of our senses. How we delight our senses varies greatly from culture to culture, yet the ways in which we use our senses is the same all around the globe! Our senses connect us intimately to our past, connect us in ways that most of our cherished ideas never could. From those fabled footsteps in lava to our sense of touch & so on this author has woven a mighty fine tapestry of what give us the spice of life! Fascinating!()
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