The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: Definitive Edition - Hardcover

Darwin, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002558661 ISBN 13: 9780002558662

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

Synopsis

The first, ever, definitive edition of Darwin’s classic — and brilliantly entertaining and accessible — exploration of human and animal behaviour.

Why do we bite people we feel affection towards? Why do dogs wag their tails? Or cats purr? Why do we get embarrassed, and why does embarrassment make us blush? These, and many other questions about the emotional life of man and animals are answered in this remarkable book.

Expression is the only book in which Darwin sketches out his revolutionary ideas about human behaviour in detail: he discusses childhood learning, insanity, painting and sculpture, animal behaviour and the differences in facial expression of the world’s peoples.

Yet for lay readers this is a fresh, direct and wholly-accessible work .

About this title

About the Author

Paul Ekman is Professor of Psychology at the University of California at San Francisco. He is editor of Darwin’s Facial Expression: A Century of Research in Review (Academic Press, 1974) and Approaches to Emotion: A Book of Readings (Erlbaum, 1984), and is the author of the acclaimed book on lies and liars, Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics and Marriage (Norton, 1993).

From the Back Cover

'Why do we bite people we feel affection towards?
Why do dogs wag their tails?
Or cats purr?
Why do we get embarrassed, and why does embarrassment make us blush?'

These, and many other questions about the emotional life of man and animals are answered in this remarkable book. 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals' was an immediate best-seller when it was first published in 1872 and still provides the point of departure for research into emotion and facial expression. In his study of infants and children (including a delightfully objective study of his own baby's smiles and pouts), of the insane, of painting and sculpture, of cats and dogs and monkeys, and of the ways that people in different cultures express their feelings, Darwin's insights have not been improved upon by modern science.

This definitive edition contains a substantial new Introduction and Afterword by Paul Ekman. Ekman also provides commentaries that use the latest scientific knowledge to elaborate, support and occasionally challenge Darwin's insights. When it was originally published, 'The Expression' was the first scientific book in English to contain photographic reproductions: for this edition, Ekman has returned to Darwin's original notes in order to produce, for the first time, a corrected, authoritative text illustrated by drawings and photographs positioned exactly as its author intended. He also includes new illustrations that Darwin discusses, but which have never appeared in previous editions.

The book reminds us that, in addition to being the nineteenth century's most influential thinker, Darwin was also a writer of consummate skill. Beautifully and profusely illustrated, this new edition promises to delight and enthral a new generation of readers.

"This is Darwin's most readable and human book, full of enchanting observations, provocative theories and remarkable photographs. This splendid new edition will introduce a new generation of readers to Darwin's masterpiece, undiminished and intensely relevant even after 125 years after publication."
OLIVER SACKS

"'Expression' predates Freud, and it will still be illuminating human psychology long after Freud's discrediting is complete."
RICHARD DAWKINS

"The appearance of a new edition of this extraordinary book is a major event in the human science. Here Darwin reminds us of his astonishing gifts of observation and explanation, offering insights that are delightful and fresh over a century later."
STEVEN PINKER

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0002558661
• ISBN 13: 9780002558662
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 516
• Editor: Ekman Paul