The Nose: A Profile of Sex, Beauty, and Survival (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "When I was growing up, I learned very early that I had-or was it that I developed?..." (more)
Key Phrases: nasal radium, sinusitis patients, smell loss, New York, United States, Johns Hopkins (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A breath of fresh air. -- Christian Science Monitor

A quirky, but well-told book that examines its place in history and cultures. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 30, 2002.

Glaser explores all things about the nose and how it defines us. -- NPR, All Things Considered, September 13, 2002

In her deeply researched narrative, Gabrielle Glaser throws herself headlong down the nose's dark and mysterious passageways. -- The Washington Post, November 5, 2002

Natural history meets pop culture. -- USA Today, February 12, 2003

Product Description

The truth of a man lies in his nose.
-- Ovid

It's amazing what a simple scent can conjure: childhood memories, someone who has passed out of our lives, a change in season, a holiday. Since ancient times, humans have used the nose to soothe fears, choose leaders, alter consciousness, and lure mates. We have certain smells that remind us of different people and places that have touched us. But the historical significances of the nose -- its complex biology and social meaning -- are rarely considered. The Nose is the first book to explore its subject through multiple, overlapping social lenses: anthropology and art, science and literature, sickness and health, sex and fertility, appearance and popular culture, mythology and memory.

The Nose takes readers on a whirlwind tour across the spectrum of human history, culture, and emotion. From hieroglyphics to modern journals, the nose has been both an enduring mystery and obsession, as fascinating to Pliny as it was to Picasso. Positioning the nose as the "anchor of our features" as well as the principle gateway to life, Gabrielle Glaser charts the shifting significances of the nose across different geographies, ethnicities, and time periods. She profiles the extraordinary people she encountered while researching her story -- the rabbi who contemplates the nose on sacred Jewish texts; the Maryland woman whose sudden loss of her sense of smell plunges her into depression; a passionate physician at the Mayo clinic with a contoversial theory about chronic sinus disease; and an African-American plastic surgeon who created new categories of "nose jobs" based on black features worldwide. For anyone who has pondered the nose, been plagued with allergies, or agonized about its size, The Nose is a learned and lively examination of our most primal organ.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Atria (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067103863X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671038632
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #238,401 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars more than by a nose, October 16, 2002

By A Customer

As a literary academic, I was reluctant to buy this book. We've had a good many books on body parts and "objects," and frankly many of them have been poorly reserached, pretentious, and badly written. Still, the cover drew me and the author's name sang. I browsed. When I turned to Part I and read the first sentence--"In the beginning, the world stank," I was hooked. As it turned out I made no mistake. "The Nose" is an intelligent piece of serious reserach; it never pretends; and it is exceptionally well written. The tidbits Glaser uncovers are often wonderful. Did you know that the inspiration of the first stick-on deoderant was the invention of the first ballpoint pen? But there are major facts here about the nose in all its profiles, and the overarching discussion of "smell" holds the book together, cover to cover. Still, if this book had been only "clinical," the it would be have been less entertaining. What Glaser achieves in giving us, gracefully and with ease, is the almost seamless tale of the nose paralleled by her own personal memoir--of her nose, her chronic battle with her sinuses, her own life of smell, both her temporary loss of it and how she suddenly regained it. So the book is both factual and instructive and detailed (the descriptions of the surgeries she observed and experienced are not for the faint of heart) blended with her life-long relationship to her own nose and its special sensitivities. Glaser is deeply read in the history of her subject, medical and literary, and she has full command of her "object." This book is both instructive and pleasurable.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Nose Knows the Nose, October 19, 2002

By A Customer

I had heard about this book in a variety of places - a review here, a radio show there. Like the reader from Waltham, I was curious (and dubious). But I picked up the book the other day, and read. And read, and read. Like Glaser, smells have affected my life powerfully -- I recall an occasion at a friend's house where I caught of whiff of the soap my grandmother used. I became so overwhelmed with longing for her (she died years ago), that tears filled my eyes even before I knew what was happening. In "The Nose," Glaser describes precisely the power that odors have on our lives, but so very much more. As someone committed to alternative health, I, too, have often been puzzled by the abundance of drugs and surgery geared toward "curing" chronic sinus problems (which I have suffered in the past). Glaser's chapter on doctors at Mayo who have researched this poorly understood disease makes for riveting reading. So, frankly, does the entire book. (I was a bit puzzled by the inclusion of a chapter on snorted drugs, however. It was interesting, but felt a bit out of place.) At any rate, this is a deeply intelligent, beautifully written book on a fascinating subject. Glaser mined history, pop culture, medicine and science for a wondrous narrative. This is an impressive and important book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If Robert Siegal Likes It, So Should You, September 15, 2002

By A Customer

Wow! When I heard this on All Things Considered, I ordered it immediately. It's fascinating! I am a Robert Siegal junkie, so when he uses words like "astonishing" and "fascinating," I take it seriously. I always thought I was alone in my nasal obsessions. Glaser points out that throughout history, the nose has mattered immensely. I loved the first chapter, on the history of smells, as well as her introduction. The science chapters are riveting, and she makes an interesting point. If medicine is so good for us, why is my local CVS so full of nasal meds? This is a really cool book. The illustrations are amazing, too. What a great idea - and a great gift idea!