The Human Face

by Brian Bates and John Cleese

Book Overview

The Human Face tells the fascinating story of our most familiar features. We embark on an intriguing and unique journey of self-discovery, exploring the evolutionary, social, and psychological aspects... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0563551887
• ISBN13: 9780563551881
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: BBC
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

fascinating

great book, good read and some really good pictures. this is such a unique fun book to read i read it over and over again and love looking at all the cool and colorful pictures. this book tells all about the human face from the begining of time and where it originated up until what we are today. it covers many diffrent areas and topics relating to science, beauty, expressions etc... , it has everything you could think of! it covers everything you ever wanted to know about the face. i recomend this book to anyone whos interested in how humans interact with eachother and facial expressions and what we consider beauty and why, or even if you like science! buy this book today, it's worth it.

Awesome book!

This book actually surprised me in it's depth and content. It didn't appear to be very long even though it is rather tall. It covers the origin of the human face and goes on to explain why we are fascinated with the face as well as how faces are used in commercials and movies to promote ads, gain sympathy, or provoke anger. It is very scientific yet easy to understand. Quite humorous as well. Very beautiful photos. There is so much in the book I can't begin to list it all. I really learned a lot from this book and I have recommended it to many friends.I highly recommend this book.

From Someone Who Should Know

Wow...What an awesome book! As an orthodontist, I found it incredibly interesting. Needless to say, I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the human facination with the face. Also, be sure to check out the video/DVD that was produced after the book. Great fun with John Cleese and Elizabeth Hurley, with additional material. Especially fascinating- the section on facial beauty with Dr. Stephen Marquardt.

Face Fascination

This book tells the story of why we are drawn to faces thirty minutes after being born, when even then our eyes can barely focus. This inborn fascination with faces continues as we grow up and become fascinated with the face of the one we love. Brian Bates brings his experience in psychology and biology to this beautifully bound collection. He has taught imagination techniques for actors, including face and mask work and has directed plays at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. This book is a journey of self-discovery. It explores the social and psychological aspects of the face. It is sometimes said, you never forget a face, but can forget a name. That has often been true for me. Why is it that I can remember a face so well? We all have seven universally recognized facial expression: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise and contempt. But we can make up to 7,000 discrete expressions. This work explores beauty in the eye of the beholder versus a universal agreement on which faces are beautiful. The area of sexual attraction and the naked truth behind facial features is interesting for many reasons. On a bright yellow page the index lists origins, identity, expressions, beauty, vanity and fame. The pages are visually stunning. With colored pages and black writing contrasting with white pages and pictures. The pictures of two individuals from birth to middle age showed how we change over time. I was intrigued by the "Expressions" chapter. Lady Diana's Eyes told the tale of her life as she moved from innocence to unhappiness. Did you know that the natural smile and the "masking/fake smile" uses different muscles to produce a similar effect. I tried this and it is an interesting experiment. The natural smile seems to use more muscles and includes my eyes feeling more brightened. When I try to produce a fake smile, I feel my face is in fact not quite as alive. Then, onto what really matters: Kissing. ;~} A few pages on that and suddenly you turn the page and start to yawn...literally. Just the picture of a yawn is contagious. Why? I yawn again and find it difficult to look at the picture and not keep yawning! After yawning three times, I turn the page! The chapter on beauty includes many famous faces. Julia Roberts, Calista Flockhart, Sophia Loren...they can be found here smiling. This chapter also shows that people who are beautiful are not always happier than everyone else. There are some very revealing pictures of a woman, before and after plastic surgery! Vanity is a revealing chapter with a beautiful painting of the Greek myth of Narcissus, where a young man was so enamored with his own face, he falls in love with his own reflection. By the time you reach the last pages, you will know an incredible amount about the human face. A fashionable collection of human faces, to help you understand why we are sometimes so intrigued by the faces of the famous, or of those around us. Guaranteed to bring a smile to yo

Look at faces in a new way

"The Human Face" is filled with full-size color photographs of faces from cultures around the world, of every age, of every emotion. Photos of faces illustrate chapters on Origins, Identity, Expressions, Beauty, Vanity, and Fame. This book stresses how important "faces" are to our lives -- the first thing a human infant responds to is a face. Findings in science and cultural studies are cited, still the book's language is easy-to-read and breezy. Fascinating. Wish the information was more in depth. Still worth it. You may not look at the people you know in the same way.