The Sensational Past: How the Enlightenment Changed the Way We Use Our Senses

Nonfiction, History, Modern, 18th Century, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Mind & Body
Cover of the book The Sensational Past: How the Enlightenment Changed the Way We Use Our Senses by Carolyn Purnell, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Carolyn Purnell ISBN: 9780393249361
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: February 7, 2017
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Carolyn Purnell
ISBN: 9780393249361
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: February 7, 2017
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

Sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch—as they were celebrated during the Enlightenment and as they are perceived today.

Blindfolding children from birth? Playing a piano made of live cats? Using tobacco to cure drowning? Wearing “flea”-colored clothes? These actions may seem odd to us, but in the eighteenth century, they made perfect sense.

As often as we use our senses, we rarely stop to think about their place in history. But perception is not dependent on the body alone. Carolyn Purnell persuasively shows that, while our bodies may not change dramatically, the way we think about the senses and put them to use has been rather different over the ages. Journeying through the past three hundred years, Purnell explores how people used their senses in ways that might shock us now. And perhaps more surprisingly, she shows how many of our own ways of life are a legacy of this earlier time.

The Sensational Past focuses on the ways in which small, peculiar, and seemingly unimportant facts open up new ways of thinking about the past. You will explore the sensory worlds of the Enlightenment, learning how people in the past used their senses, understood their bodies, and experienced the rapidly shifting world around them.

In this smart and witty work, Purnell reminds us of the value of daily life and the power of the smallest aspects of existence using culinary history, fashion, medicine, music, and many other aspects of Enlightenment life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch—as they were celebrated during the Enlightenment and as they are perceived today.

Blindfolding children from birth? Playing a piano made of live cats? Using tobacco to cure drowning? Wearing “flea”-colored clothes? These actions may seem odd to us, but in the eighteenth century, they made perfect sense.

As often as we use our senses, we rarely stop to think about their place in history. But perception is not dependent on the body alone. Carolyn Purnell persuasively shows that, while our bodies may not change dramatically, the way we think about the senses and put them to use has been rather different over the ages. Journeying through the past three hundred years, Purnell explores how people used their senses in ways that might shock us now. And perhaps more surprisingly, she shows how many of our own ways of life are a legacy of this earlier time.

The Sensational Past focuses on the ways in which small, peculiar, and seemingly unimportant facts open up new ways of thinking about the past. You will explore the sensory worlds of the Enlightenment, learning how people in the past used their senses, understood their bodies, and experienced the rapidly shifting world around them.

In this smart and witty work, Purnell reminds us of the value of daily life and the power of the smallest aspects of existence using culinary history, fashion, medicine, music, and many other aspects of Enlightenment life.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book Neuro-Narrative Therapy: New Possibilities for Emotion-Filled Conversations by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book From Axons to Identity: Neurological Explorations of the Nature of the Self (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book The Turk and My Mother: A Novel by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book Deep Lane: Poems by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book Defusing Armageddon: Inside NEST, America's Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book Puzzling Adventures: Tales of Strategy, Logic, and Mathematical Skill by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book Finding Camlann: A Novel by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book Clinical Intuition in Psychotherapy: The Neurobiology of Embodied Response (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book Darwin's Armada: Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book A Servant's Tale: A Novel by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book 1,339 Quite Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book The Shadow King: A Novel by Carolyn Purnell
Cover of the book The Greek Way by Carolyn Purnell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy