Don’t you love a book that hits the sweet spot in terms of (a) entertaining and (b) informing? One you can’t put down because it’s so much fun but that’s also brilliant enough to talk about at dinner parties?
Here are two books we think manage this tricky feat:
A Natural History of the Senses, by Diane Ackerman. This Amazon review will give you a sense of this beauty:
“‘One of the real tests of writers,” notes Ackerman in this liveliest of nature books, “is how well they write about smells. If they can’t describe the scent of sanctity in a church, can you trust them to describe the suburbs of the heart?”
Ackerman passes the test, writing with ease and fluency about the five senses. Did you know that bat guano smells like stale Wheat Thins? That Bach’s music can quell anger around the world? That the leaves that shimmer so beautifully in fall have “no adaptive purpose”? Ackerman does, and she guides us through questions of sensation with an eye for the amusingly arcane reference and just the right phrase.”
Woman: An Intimate Geography, by Natalie Angier.
This is biology written about beautifully, passionately, and with humor. The New York Times called it “A tour de force … a wonderful, engaging, and informative book.” From Publishers Weekly:
“With wit and verve, Angier discusses such topics as ovulation, conception and birth; the social and physiological functions of breasts; orgasm, mate selection and child-rearing behavior; the complex workings of estrogen; hysterectomy; muscle strength; and female aggression and bonding. Her wide-ranging celebration of the female body engages the intellect but, more importantly, also offers a rigorous challenge to male-oriented theories of biology.”
Are you engrossed in a must-read these days? Send it our way!
