Life in Five Senses

January 23, 2023
Bestseller Rubin (The Happiness Project) turns her attention to sensory perception in this flawed offering. Reeling from an eye doctor’s passing comment about her predisposition for a condition that can cause sight loss, Rubin realized she’d been “allowing the sensations of life to slip away unobserved,” whether the feeling of her husband’s stubble or New York City’s “heady of car exhaust, marijuana, and honey-roasted peanuts.” Rubin dedicates a chapter to each sense, weaving together research, personal observations, and musings on its importance to her life. “Taste” involves a food tour of the Lower East Side’s Jewish cuisine with her mother-in-law and children, which helps her realize how bonding over food can “deepen relationships.” The heated tiles of a hotel bathroom floor and a hug, meanwhile, show how touch can confer pleasure or comfort, and daily visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art help the author differentiate subtle variations in color. Rubin suggests practices for readers to deepen sensory awareness, among them hosting a “Taste Party” to compare different varieties of familiar foods. While this outing has its revealing moments, it lacks clear purpose, and Rubin’s aims to extract “deeper insights about the human experience” through sensory awareness are too broad. The author is undoubtedly enthusiastic about her material, but that alone doesn’t salvage this.

February 15, 2023
The author of The Happiness Project examines the five senses. As in her previous books about personal transformation and well-being, Rubin once again combines elements of memoir with scientific data. Following a distressing trip to the eye doctor, the author realized she had been taking her senses for granted. For years, writes the author, she felt stuck inside her head, disconnected from the world, other people, and herself. "I wanted to appreciate the moments of my life more fully; I wanted to get out of my head and into my life; I wanted to deepen my knowledge of the world, of other people--and of myself," she writes. For each of the five senses, Rubin shares her research on their mechanics. "By immersing myself in strong sensations for this experiment," she writes, "I hoped I'd sharpen my five senses for the rest of my life." Living in New York City, she visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art every day for one year to help heighten her awareness of her senses. The author also engaged in other exercises, often including her family and friends. These included decorating part of her home with "a mass of color out of objects" she found; attending the traveling "Immersive Van Gogh" exhibit; curating an "Audio Apothecary" playlist of her favorite music; living in her "Silent Home Retreat" for three days; learning perfumery; organizing a tasting party; lying in a "sensory enhancement" tank; and, most adventurously, experiencing ayahuasca with a guide. As her journey progressed, Rubin evolved: "I felt more awake, more serene, more present in my body." She also discovered that she was noticing and connecting with other people to a greater degree. The takeaway is that we can actively shape our sensory experiences rather than passively enduring them. For active seekers, Rubin again provides simple insights for becoming more aware of place, self, and others.

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Starred review from March 1, 2023
A scare at the eye doctor prompts Rubin, cohost of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, whose previous books include Outer Order, Inner Calm (2019), to focus on her five senses and their contributions to her happiness. Alone or accompanied by her family and friends, Rubin uses scientific studies, classes, experiments, and a daily trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to explore sensory input. For sight, Rubin collects scarlet objects to fill a glass bowl and speaks with a subway artist about her images. For hearing, she makes a mixtape of songs that prompt emotions and attends a sound-bath meditation. For smell, Rubin takes an introduction to perfumery class and plays a game to identify odors with her kids. For taste, she makes a time line of tastes, from childhood to adulthood, and dines at a restaurant wearing a blindfold. For touch, Rubin tries out a sensory deprivation tank and buys a smooth stone for good luck. To tie it all together, Rubin begins a five-senses journal. Not only does each experiment give Rubin a boost in her sensory awareness; she finds that these explorations also lead to a greater awareness of her body and new and deeper connections with family and friends. This inspiring book will prompt readers to open themselves to the world around them.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.