The Face : A Natural History

For instance, we learn that the purpose of the eyebrow is to keep sweat out of the eye. But author Daniel McNeill goes on to observe that in different cultures and at different times, it has been fashionable for women and men to pluck out the eyebrows. And the main purpose of the eyebrow is communication. With it, we can indicate a wide range of expressions. McNeill uses Groucho Marx, John Belushi, Uriah Heep, and Charles Darwin to makes his points about eyebrows.

McNeill proceeds to deconstruct the eyelashes, and nearly every other bit of the face in much the same way, using French poetry, Elizabethan drama, 20th century popular culture, and smatterings of natural science to illuminate his descriptions. We learn that flight attendants routinely convince themselves that they like the difficult passenger so that they can deal with him more effectively. What does that have to do with the face? The flight attendants know that it is almost impossible to fake a convincing smile so they can only be effective if they believe they truly like the truculent boor in seat 14D. It's the same sort of logic that makes a successful telephone worker smile even though the listener can't see the smile. You sound different when you smile. Happier.

There are tidbits like this throughout The Face. If you find a discussion about Greek philosophers heavy going, hang on, McNeill will have moved on to Dracula or Mark Twain in a few paragraphs.

The Face was so enjoyable and informative, that I am quite puzzled to find that McNeill hasn't written any more non-fiction since this 1998 book.

The two aspects of the book I found most interesting were the evolutionary background of each feature of the face from the obvious (ie. the mouth) to the not so obvious (ie. the eyebrow) and his own philisophical meanderings into the standards of beauty.

He also discusses facial expressions, differences in facial structure among different races, comparisons to other species, facial augmentation including piercings and plastic surgery, as well as a brief and not too complicated study in anatomy.

My only caution is that I hoped that there would be more illustrations to accompany some of his text, but McNeill is a lively author and this is definately a good nonfiction read. I can't stress his thoroughness enough so that there's something in there for everyone, from the hardcore scientist to the curious layperson.

Apart from the deep interest of the topic itself, in the richness of the aspects addressed, the book is wonderfully written and this alone makes it worth reading. McNeill has the rare gift of an enjoyable, entertaining expression which translates into a fluent and brilliant narrative. There have been many pages where, like in a conjurer's trick, the author sprang up from the printed words and took shape at my side as a sort of domestic conteur, accompanying me while slowly walking around my kitchen's table where I use to read books in a slow, tacit peripatetic rite, away from the TV set and the PC. Since my childhood's years I have been almost totally incapable to read without moving: the phenomenon started with a rhythmic oscillation of the legs and went further through successive stages of mild agitation, until it peacefully settled into a stable circular - I dare say, mandalic - form of ambulation: maybe this quality of mine as a reader can be deciphered in some trait of my face, let's say, the way I laugh or the way I look at people when I speak close in front of them.

Who knows which mysterious relationships our inner world establishes with our faces and in which way they tend to show externally, when perceived by the others!

McNeill takes you in the heart of this constant link between souls and faces, between life and facial expression and appearance. But, although the book never descends to the level of an arid exposition of facts and findings, don't believe its content escapes the filter of a rigorous scientific approach.

On the contrary, each assertion, while light and elegant in its wording, rests upon a solid background of careful observation and experiment. Few books are so poetically taxonomic, only that definition and category disappear from view disguised in a masterful reporting. You pass from a detailed examination of facial muscles (now I know which one to blame for my forehead wrinkles: the corrugator!) to the typical clues which may give you away as a lying hypocrite. Anecdotally overabundant the book gets you acquainted with lots of characters and ideas picked up from a vast segment of the history of thought. Psychology, neurology, physiognomy, social behaviour and cultural traditions are all deeply searched in order to extract meaning out of faces. But perhaps the most important lesson you are taught is that when you cope with faces - of course starting with your own - you should be quite careful not to take all at its face value.

So my advice is: read this beautiful book, then watch yourself straight in the eyes in front of a mirror and honestly tell me if you really see the same person as before.