Bret McCabe of The Baltimore City Paper has one of the first reviews of my new book The Science of Kissing and he's awfully kind. I also love the illustration by artist Alex Fine. McCabe begins:
The year is very young, but author Sheril Kirshenbaum is already way ahead of the pack for brilliant nonfiction book moves of 2011. As a science writer, Kirshenbaum has penned thoughtful and engaging articles about science literacy, environmental science, and education for the likes of Salon, The Huffington Post, and Mother Jones. As a research associate at the University of Texas’ Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, she works to enhance public understanding of energy issues. She is an adviser to NPR’s Science Friday and co-hosts the Discover magazine blog The Intersection. But for all her accomplishments and accolades, her latest project borders on the super genius. For the past two years she has been investigating the biology, anthropology, psychology, and cultural history of osculation. It’s called embrasser in French, besar in Spanish; any online translator can offer you the appropriate character translations in Arabic, Korean, Japanese, and Pashto. You’ve probably known it since childhood simply as kissing. That’s right: A little more than a month before Valentine’s Day and a few months before spring begins its flirtatious winter thaw, Kirshenbaum’s The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us (Grand Central) hits bookshelves. Which means at some point in the very near future some member of the print, online, or TV press is going to identify Kirshenbaum as a “kissing expert.” It’s amazing somebody hasn’t written this book already.
Read the full review here...
