Diane Ackerman - A Natural History of the Senses - 10

[Darb]

I read A Natural History of the Senses back in 1991, when it first came out ...



If you're an aspiring writer, if you enjoy meditation and/or sensory deprivation (or other activities designed to heighten your sensory awareness), or even if you're just an unpracticed closet sensualist eager for new experiences, then do not walk ... RUN ... run out and by this book. Better still, click on our "Buy Books" link, locate it, and select overnight shipment. You'll thank me for it.

Yes, it really is THAT good.

Ackerman gives us a first hand tour de force overview of our 5 bodily senses, from the historical, scientific, philosophical, artistic and literary vantagepoints. With the giddy delight of someone with a rapt attention for fine details, not to mention a true gift for words, she takes us on a rich journey of the subtle and the sublime ... from the musky scent of fire-warmed leather, to the plaintive cry of a lonely loon hidden in the misty wilderness, to the rousing plushness of crushed velvet, to the crisp-tart taste of muscat grapes plucked straight from their sun-ripened vines.

No need for me to wax poetic, because that's what this work is all about ... it's a master class in understanding the senses we use to percieve the world itself.

Sure, there are people out there who think that books like this are just lightweight literary fluff ... such people reveal themselves to be the same undiscerning people who are blindly content to live on fast food slop, who never stop to relax and fully appreciate a beautiful sunset, and who mechanically motor off into the rat race without pausing for a long moment to nuzzle in the musky warmth of their lover's neck and hair, and to beam love for a long languid moment into their mate's eyes. For those cannot appreciate the subtleties such things, I feel nothing but pity. Go right ahead and wallow in your detached mediocrity ... and whatever you do, do NOT buy this book, because it'll only upset you to realize all the things you've been missing out on all these years. You've been living your life in the lowest possible resolution, and you have nobody to blame but yourself.

Anyway, this book is easily one of the most enjoyable and satisfying books I've ever read. On the enjoyability scale, I'd give it a solid 10 ... for me anyway.

[felonius]

I've read this one too and I have to concur with the review...

A prior roomate of mine who's a big nature enthusiast handed it to me one day with warm praise, I read it on his recommendation and didn't regret it...

...extremely sensual, yeah, gives you new appreciation of countless things we take for granted in everyday life...also a fine therapeutic tool if you've got the blues over something...lots of optimism-kindling, for sure.

[Darb]

Review revised and expanded slightly.

[NancyH]

sounds fascinating! it's now on my list. (my list is expanding faster than i get time to read things maybe in the winter i will have more couch time)

[Darb]

It's been like 13 years since I read this book, and the thing that reminded me of it most recently (and which prompted me to post a review) was going kayaking at dawn yesturday morning. Events and obligations had conspired to prevent me from going kayaking with anywhere near the regularity that I used to enjoy even a few short years ago. Life gets like that at times.

Finally, yesturday morning, I'd woken early, and like a restless animal determined to escape from the cage of daily routine, I dusted off my boat on an eager whim, rolled it down to the beach, waded it into the mirror smooth water of Long Island Sound, scrubbed off the dirt of neglect, and went on a nice long early morning paddle.

The gentle rock of the waves, the tiny sounds that travelled for long distances because of the world's silence (in the case, an early morning train leaving station 3 miles away), the empty beach furniture paused in mid-use like an abandoned play room, the occasional slap of a seabass nabbing an inattentive minnow, the caw of an inquisitive seagull, the gentle whispering of the waving eel grass stirred by the small wake left by a distant ship that had passed several miles away an hour earlier, the rippling reflections of my wake bouncing off the sleeping boats moored nearby ... and later, the first puffs of the morning landbreeze that begins when sun-warmed air begins to rise over land in-shore. A veritable symphony of tiny sensations that most people (unfortunately) train themselves to ignore.

It was one of those precious moments when life slowed down to a gently pulsing moment of eternity, when you're able to sort of sit outside of yourself, and pause and reflect ... before reluctantly slipping back into your distant daily routine.

I lived more, in that one short hour, than I have in the whole past week.

And THAT is exactly the type of experience that reminded me of this book.

Once your eyes have been opened to such experiences, you eventually learn that it's possible to enjoy them whenever and whereever you can consciously make time to savor them ... rather than helplessly waiting for the hindsight of memory and happenstance to dictate which things you've already done in the past might have qualified as something worthwhile. In other words, living proactively in the moment, rather than sifting belatedly for the occasional gems of your ever fading past.

Anything that can open your mind to such things is worth it's weight in gold ... the coverprice of a lone book is a small price to pay for what other spend YEARS trying to find.

[NancyH]

i know exactly what you mean. actually i bought a book recently on living meaningfully. which is to say, experiencing whatever you are doing to the fullest, as well as taking the time to sense your place in the world. because i often feel like my life is getting away from me. i find i'm rushing around and worrying about things and tiring myself out instead of being serene and joyful and saving my energy for being social and active. i can't remember the title at the moment. it's a very simple book, it references some Buddhist ideas, some of the author's own experience, and has exercises for teaching balance and observation. ermm...i'll have to come back later with the name/author

i dunno, i feel overwhelmed a lot, but i do realize the power in taking some time for a walk by the river and just breathing! i just want to integrate that kind of experiencing into my everyday more.

[felonius]

I'm nodding too. Routine can be a great deadener, that's very true. Especially in these urban realms of steel and concrete that most of us find ourselves in most of the time. One can come to feel so...anonymous at times.

Think about the act of just meeting people: compare how it is when you're navigating through, say, a congested subway station - so many bodies, they kind of just turn into ONE body - you're not thinking of 'em as individuals anymore, there're just an unremarkable mass -

Now by contrast, think about being on a hiking trail and not seeing any other people for several days (as I have many times) and then meeting some coming in the opposite direction. It's an event! You smile, you laugh, you trade stories, you exchange supplies, and you remember the encounter vividly. At least that's been my experience. Makes you think.

Thanks for the kayak story, Brad - that was nice. Makes me want to go right now. I'd be interested in the name of that book you mentioned as well, Nancy.

[Darb]

Felonius: you're very welcome.

And I know exactly what you mean about hiking making the absence of things seem at times more powerful than the presence of them. Case in point - I live in a beachfront community, and one of the houses that I paddled past had a huge party tent on the water ... apparently they'd had some sort of wedding reception on the beach the night before, because the tables, chairs, portable bar, turntable & rented speakers, booze & mixers ... all of it was still standing there on the beach, as if a sudden supervirus had disintegrated all the revelers. It was a true "tableau vivant", sans revelers. Somehow, the party seemed even louder and more boisterous then if the people had still been there.

Anyway, I resisted the urge to veer over to shore and slip a fifth of rum into my cargo bin.

Further down the beach, and a short portage later, I was in federally protected wetland, with few houses to be seen, some rare arctic plover that were nesting, and there was even a specially erected pole in the water atop which an osprey was nesting ... I gave it a wide berth. Anyway, the wetlands were a nice contrast with the beachfront houses.

Incidentally, there are kayaks to be had that are both inexpensive and easy to use. Here's the one I currently own ... self bailing, easy to paddle, easy to portage. And it's made out of recyclable plastic too ... easy to patch with a glue gun. It's pretty nifty.

http://www.oceankayak.com/scrambler.html

[NancyH]

ok i was off on the wrong track with "meaningfully". it's actually called Mindfulness for Everyday Living I haven't read all of it but the first part is just about learning to listen to your senses. It goes into more emotional stuff later on : being patient and letting go of hurtful feelings.

[NancyH]

I found this book at a used book sale on the weekend! great stuff

My friend and I were wandering around Halifax, we had to check out of the hotel at noon but didn't have to be at the airport until 4. And the friend we were supposed to visit wasn't answering his phone(dork). the weather was rotten, windy and cold and a bit rainy. my friend was seriously hung over, so he wasn't very good company. so we were meandering along the waterfront wishing we had mittens and scarves, when we discovered a Literacy festival in a warehouse! Perfect! so we could escape indoors and browse the books, they had readings of various things, and then when we each found something to read we just drove to the airport and settled in with our finds Mine was The Natural History of the Senses and his was The greengrocer's kitchen: Fruit and Nuts which is also quite interesting.

[MidasKnight]

Routine can be a great deadener

So true, and yet, that is the paradox of my personal world. This, in my opinion, is what makes ADD such a misunderstood (and often skeptically treated) disorder. It isn't the scatterbrained conversations or even the forgetfulness of an ADD'er that is so frustrating. It is that we seem to enjoy 'smelling the roses' as much or even more than the average person, yet our inherent lack of mental structure requires a strict routine for simple survival (or a babysitting spouse). In a sense, we (or at least I) find that I can either be unhappy or unhappy. I am finally beginning to accept that as a parent and employee, I need to nestle into the sterile, cozy confines of a strict routine.

I guess the positive is that I'll be able to afford to actually take a vacation if I stick to my current parameters and then I can smell the roses.

[Darb]

Eh .. someone say something

/me resumes smellin the roses.

[MidasKnight]

I don't see any roses ... I'm looking down at my feet ... roses are my enemy ... must ... stay ... focused ... ... hey, cool song!

[Darb]

MODERATION ALERT: Missing linked-review linkage repaired by adding a new "linked review" entry (T=1949) into the database, and merging the pre-existing thread (T=1321) into the new one.

[felonius]

I wonder whatever happened to NancyH - she was cool.