Adam's navel
Subtitle: a natural and cultural history of the human form
By: Michael Sims
Publisher: Viking
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 342
ISBN-13: 9780670032242
Subjects: Body image; Human body; Body Image; Social aspects; Anatomy; Culture; Folklore; Symbolic aspects; Human Body; Physiology
Description: An informed survey, Adam's Navel is a unique brew of science, history, and storytelling that illuminates our perception, exploitation, and celebration of the human body. Moving from head to toe in twelve chapters, Michael Sims blends cultural history with evolutionary theory to produce a wonderfully original narrative. "No part of the body lacks a story," writes Sims, who analyzes and demystifies the visible parts of the body that make up the whole-our animal form that is also a screen onto which we project our fears and obsessions. He tells of dreadlocks and Achilles' heel, of fingerprints and penis size. He discusses the history of breastfeeding, the allure of navel rings, ancient rules for shaking hands, why nature builds men and women on a female body plan, and how the evolution of our two-legged stance affects childbirth and back pain. Drawing on evolution and the mechanics of human anatomy, along with Shakespeare, mythology, film, and popular culture, Sims creates a marvelous new lens through which to view this body that we inhabit almost unconsciously. Adam's Navel is a field guide to the landscape of ourselves.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-327) and index.