Jillyn Smith

The Prologue recalls the ubiquitous teacher from her past, who asks: "How can you describe something if you don't look at it, hear it, touch it, taste it, smell it?"

Very helpful for those of us who find we have been buried alive inside a pit of flesh. Smith, a biologist/journalist, describes the peep-holes -- senses: "Hearing: the noblest faculty", "Vision: a Viewpoint" (the human eye was meant for distant vision and for gradual movements [58, reading is bad for children's sight! 78]), Smell: Inarticulate Sense, Taste: Accounting For It, Touch: Confirmatory Sense, and Seeking Sensory Experience . Great book for people who love getting physical, who recognize that Curiosity is "sensible", and...who like massages and cats [198-203 "to be is to touch"; talk silly to a cat 202]. The final chapter is as biology-centered as the rest, but edges toward an implied exhortation: Get out of solitary confinement - take the voyage in search of spices!… (more)