Customer Reviews

Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined

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I was looking on Amazon for a book that could tell the hard, cold, objective facts about the influence of physical appearance on general success in life. First, I found Dr. Patzer's earlier book. It seemed chock-full of studies and as much objective material as I could ask for, but the reviews complained it was too textbook-like and scholarly. Dr. Patzer must have taken the criticism to heart, because he published "Looks" in 2008, so the average layman/woman can understand the profound influence that their LOOKS can have on every single aspect of their lives.

I didn't need to be convinced of this, but I wanted some proof and data. "Looks" provides ample proof and data, along with true stories from the past and present, quotations and even statistics. For instance, did you know that highly attractive people may earn from 7.5 -15% more than their average looking peers? See page 82! "Looks" is loaded with details like this that will make you re-evaluate everything about your social and economic life -- your job, your friends, your education, even your relationships with parents and siblings.

And lest you think that this is merely a phenomenon of the modern era, Dr. Patzer has some proof that our bias towards the beautiful is not only ancient, but built into our very genetic code.

If you ever need to be convinced to lose some weight, dress for success, get your hair cut, rethink that total-body tattoo project, "Looks" is the book I would highly recommend.

Dr. Patzer also touches on the subject of "lookism" and identifies the few states that have laws that prohibit it.

About the only criticism I have is the end portion that focuses on what you can do to avoid being personally obsessed with the way you look and how others perceive you. While this subject has its place, it seems self-defeating to me to take chapter after chapter to prove how looks influence virtually everything in your life, and then end by telling people they shouldn't be worried about that pesky 5 pounds. Seems to me most of the world is right on worrying about the pesky 5 pounds, if 10 or 20 can influence your love life, employment status, economic security, influence over others and social class so profoundly.

In general, however, this is an eye-opening book about the world, the way it REALLY works, and anyone who takes the time to read it is doing themselves a huge favor. I was grateful to get the unvarnished truth from a social scientist committed to studying this aspect of human relations.

People who read this book may want to believe that this never occurs, or that the author is just using some extreme examples when they fail to view the other side of the story as well. These people will just be denying their belief systems the sad truth - that your looks matter most to everyone you will ever come into contact with in your life. After all, if there are no pre-conceived notions of a person, what else is someone going to judge you on? They don't know what you're like on the inside, how much money you have, etc. All they can see about you at first meet is what you LOOK like. And first impressions, they say, are lasting impressions, and count the most in how people evaluate and think of us.

The author even makes mention of the show "Average Joe" in his book to highlight the fact that given someone who has everything going for him with lesser than perfect looks versus someone who has reallt nothing else going for him except for his looks, the female candidate in this case chose looks over substance.

The chapter on looks and how they affect you in the workforce is quite eye-opening, and may explain countless people's frustration as to why they never got the promotion or given the leadership role when they, and everyone else around them knew that they were the best candidates for the job.

I also like his analysis of how the population keeps on getting better looking as all the "uglies" are left on the single scrapheap, and beacuse of better genetics we look for better looking partners.

I don't agree with the last chapter though, where the author highlights 2 case studies and says they need to re-affirm their use of affirmations to convince themselves that what happens in their lives is not solely based on their looks, whereas everything else up untiil that point in the book is stating the obvious otherwise.

Still, I can realte to the guy in the last chapter and his case in life. But I do not that these affirmations won't work, especially in the pursuit of true answers to the questions that plague people about why they cannot achieve as much as others in life, given that they are on equal footing in all other areas.

Myself, I'm a shorter than average 5"6 male living in a western society where height is THE MOST sought after value looked for by a female for their mate. I know I've always had problems getting promoted at work over my colleagues, even though my work was of the same standard. I long to meet a woman who i'm physically attracted to, but the women I am attracted to always seem to rule themselves out of anything with me. I went prematurely bald (age 18), spent hundreds of dollars on self-help books and colognes that make me "smell" more attractive to women. Spent over $3000.00 on a sorry-looking hair transplant at the age of 20 which made the front of my heasd look like an un-attended rice paddock (thank god, after wearing this hairstyle for 9 years I had the deceny of mid to shave it all off, which left me with these horribly big scars across the back of my head), and over $2500.00 on a course to meet and be more confident with women, which after over approaching over 1000 women I haven't managed to find the woman of my dreams yet (nor i believe has any other guy who took the course wih me). I wish these companies had just been upfront with me about all of this in the first place instead of scamming me of all my hard-earned money. It took me reading this book to re-affirm why none of the above had ever worked for me.

When I think about it LOGICALLY my next big saving is for some scar reductions and leg-extensions in order to get me up to around an average male height for a western society. And after reading this book it has only re-affirmed my belief as the best course of action, the best reason to save my money. I wonder if they do a face-off style operation too (like from the movie "Face Off") where they can change my whole facial look as well. Some more incentive to save my money for.

Don't let anyone try to convince you ever again that looks aren't everything in life. Sad, but true, they are everything in life and affect every single area of your life, whether you conciously know it or incorrectly deny it.

A refreshingly true read. Don't believe the lies!

The title of this book pretty much says it all. Anyone with half a brain can see that we live in a superficial world where appearances matter, but I never imagined just how much. This book illustrates the way our appearances effect almost every aspect of our lives from the way our school teachers treat us, to who gets the big promotion at work, and which stories make headline news. It's fascinating, infuriating, and definitely worth reading.

This book's research and thesis are simple: if you are not physically attractive, you are going to experience a harder life than usual given everything else is equal. A more physically attractive person, everything else being equal, will almost invariably have far better choice of partners, jobs, income, education, service, and even courtroom outcome than a physically unattractive person. You thought all those beauty obsessed people were little crazy? Well think again, given the overwhelming power of physical attractiveness, they could be the smart and sane ones in this insane world.

The book, rightfully, does not delve into moral battles of right vs wrong. That is for every individuals to decide for themselves.

What the book unmistakably makes clear, however, is that one's physical attractiveness matters a BIG deal in practically everything (even parents like the better looking child more).

So you think being overweight and unkempt has little bearing in how successful you can be and how people perceive you? Think again. Lose that weight and get a makeover. If you are physically unattractive, you are in deeper trouble than you know. The world simply doesn't like physically unattractive people very much. To make matters worse, the world LOVES physically attractive people. Ugly people definitely gets the shaft.

So make sure you look your best for the world. Be thin, dress well, practice good hygiene (including dental), and do everything else that enhances your appearance.

Plastic surgery? I can see why it could be worthwhile after reading this book. I can no longer criticize those who seek and get one.

As a researcher of how our looks affect our lives, I find this book the most up-to-date and authoritative overview of the voluminous body of studies that are scattered throughout the academic literature. It is nicely written for an easy and occasionally humorous read, easily accessible to a nonacademic audience. My one caveat is that Paltzer trusts the results of individual studies as if they are all replicable and generalizable, whereas I would take some of the reported findings, and their extensions to real life, with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, his broad conclusions are surely trustworthy.

College-level collections strong in social science, business and psychology alike will appreciate LOOKS: WHY THEY MATTER MORE THAN YOU EVER IMAGINED, a review of the history and modern research surrounding appearance. From how medical personnel give more attention to healthy babies to how teachers except better-looking children to perform better, LOOKS delves into the underlying influences on success - and dispels many myths. General-interest collections will also find it a popular pick.

The problem with beauty is that it is subjective. There is not one "golden ratio" to anything, and if one wanted to, one could come up with infinite ratios and infinite formulas to try to define physical beauty. All these formulas would eventually lead to the same thing. Which is that nothing in beauty is definable. Beauty is an art, and not a science, yet Gordon Patzer will insist on trying to prove how scientific it is with lots of statistics, research studies that are not terribly unknown, and a majority of the data which I feel is influenced by people who want to match their evidence to their assumptions. People WANT to believe that looks will affect their life more than they actually do, so therefore, they WANT to find evidence to fit those facts. Any fact that supports an argument in some magical "universal" beauty that threatens to be of so much more utmost importance than any other thing in their life that they cannot control is downright scary to people. And due to that fear, they will then home-in to believe pretty much anything. Including a spot researcher who is not necessarily on the whole an expert himself.
The the up-note, Patzer is thorough and conclusive, (in a basic way). In no doubt after reading his book it will be determined, once and for all, what looks do for you and how it will influence your life. A fairly readable copy, although not highly imaginative, I give kudos for bravery.