A Natural History of the Senses

Ackerman argues that the senses connect humans across time and culture. Reading the love poems of the ancient Roman poet Propertius, Ackerman marvels at how little has changed in the experience of love and sex in 2,000 years. She notes that the hominids who lived in Africa millions of years ago would have seen the same mountains we see, in much the same way. Our senses “define the edge of consciousness” (xv)—that is, the limit of what humans can know. Humans test these limits by seeking out novel and exciting sensory experiences.

Ackerman identifies author and activist Helen Keller as one of history’s greatest “sensuists.” After she lost her hearing and vision in childhood, Keller’s remaining senses were so acute she could distinguish musical instruments by vibrations through a radio. Ackerman challenges the notion that mind resides only in the brain, citing findings suggesting that consciousness travels throughout the body “on caravans of hormone and enzyme” (xix). The book is a celebratory exploration of the senses.

Ackerman asserts that smell is the most memorable sense, capable of triggering powerful, complex memories that have been dormant for years. Smells can evoke vivid visions of the past. Although we can detect more than 10,000 different odors and can even subconsciously determine a person’s gender from the scent of their clothing, smell is the “mute sense”—the one for which we have relatively little direct vocabulary.