Greg Laden's got the first science blog review of The Science of Kissing. He begins with a sweet and funny personal kissing story (a must-read for anyone who knows Greg!) followed by a thoughtful and detailed response to the book. Here's an excerpt:
The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us, a new book by Sheril Kirshenbaum has a bunch more about kissing, and is a must read for anyone who wants to try out kissing (you may like it) and keep it scientific. You would think that kissing is pretty basic. A few different animals seem to do it, and we've all seen the pictures of chimps kissing. So, humans have always kissed, and it's a basic feature of our species and we all do it and it's kind of wet and messy and what else can you really say about it? But if that is what you are thinking, then you need to do two things: a) get more curious and b) remove your Occidento-normative Western Unthinking Cap and learn yourself some perspective. Kissing is not a human universal. Not all cultures do this. The history of kissing is complex and interesting, to the extent that we know about it. Kissing may or may not be a signal for quality or ability in relation to other activities such as sex. Science has something to say about the efficacy of lip-enhancing behaviors such as gloss and colorizing. And did you know that men and women do not necessarily like the same kind of kissing, at least in some contexts? Sheril's book is a fun read and there is no way you will not find it informative. Gender issues and sexuality is an interest of mine (as an evolutionary biologist) so I know a lot of this stuff, but I learned a great deal reading The Science of Kissing. And, it made me think.
Read Greg's entire review here...
