Synopsis
There are six billion faces; yours is unique. The Human Face traces the development of the face in evolution, and using real case studies, it reveals our conceptions of the face in our social and psychological worlds. We have been enchanted by the face for a very long time. Even as tiny babies we are drawn to faces. Thirty minutes after being born, when our eyes can barely focus, we prefer to gaze at faces more than at any other object. Our fascination with them is inbred, and continues all through life. We fall in love with people we find beautiful, and we are endlessly intrigued by the faces of the famous. The Human Face tells the fascinating story of the evolutionary, social and psychological development of the human face. Divided into six chapters on origins, identity, expression, beauty, vanity and fame, the book takes us on an intriguing journey of self-discovery. The face is such an intimate part of our lives that understanding its origins, how it works and what it means, is a way of understanding who we are. Fully illustrated with 400 stunning photographs, this book explores the development of the human face and provides an illuminating insight into the self.
Review
The coffee-table accompaniment to the BBC television series, The Human Face considers the notion that beauty is indeed only skin-deep, and explores whether we should judge a book by its cover. Supposing we do, it justifies the conceit through a wealth of magnificent colour plates and an explanatory text by John Cleese, who presented the series, and psychologist Brian Bates. If appearance and beauty are a universal concern, our curiosity is nothing compared to psychologists, who produce an endless stream of tests, polls and inquiries into beauty. But this nothing new, in fact, and the Greeks had the answer, and words, for it. The Golden Mean divided the face into three equal sections, with the perfect face conforming to the ratio 1:1.618, where the ratio between the smaller parts to the larger was the same as between the larger parts and the entire face. Astonishing, perhaps, but these almost divine dimensions, used for their statues, persist as models of timeless beauty. The book divides into six sections. Origins follows the oft-quoted paradigm of the span of human existence expressed within the timescale of a single day, with Homo sapiens' after-the-pub late appearance. Identity is discussed in terms of broad genetic and gender terms, while expressions, aka Jim Carrey Studies, looks at developmental, physiological and cultural differences. It occasionally reads like a school biology text, graded to accommodate all-comers, but makes simple points succinctly. Beauty is symmetry, using scientific studies to quantify the instinctual. Ultimately it truly is in the eye of the beholder, though rarely when turned on itself, which is where vanity picks up its cue, looking out of the corner of its eyes at cosmetics, ageing, disfigurement and Madonna. Madonna, of course, also fits into the final chapter on fame, which examines the effect of photography and cinema in transmitting repetitive human images globally. The jazz trumpeter Chet Baker was once asked, in his later years, how his face had gotten so lined. "Laughter lines", he answered. "But, Chet", came the reply, "Nothing's that funny". Ultimately, The Human Face works best as a visual smorgasbord, and its lavish, eye-catching photographs. And in holding our attention, it proves the next best thing to a mirror. --David Vincent
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