How to Feel: The Science and Meaning of Touch
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Description
How to Feel explores the scientific, physical, emotional, and cultural aspects of touch, reconnecting us to what is arguably our most important sense. Sushma Subramanian introduces readers to the scientists whose groundbreaking research is underscoring the role of touch in our lives. Through vivid individual stories—a man who lost his sense of touch in his late teens, a woman who experiences touch-emotion synesthesia, her own efforts to become less touch averse—Subramanian explains the science of the somatosensory system and our philosophical beliefs about it. She visits labs that are shaping the textures of objects we use every day, from cereal to synthetic fabrics. The book highlights the growing field of haptics, which is trying to incorporate tactile interactions into devices such as phones that touch us back and prosthetic limbs that can feel. How to Feel offers a new appreciation for a vital but misunderstood sense and how we can use it to live more fully.
ISBN
9780231199322
Publication Date
2021
Publisher
Columbia University Press
City
New York
Keywords
Biological sciences, Somatosensory, Haptics, Touch
Disciplines
Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology | Social Psychology | Systems Neuroscience
Recommended Citation
Subramanian, Sushma, "How to Feel: The Science and Meaning of Touch" (2021). Communication and Digital Studies Books. 1.
https://scholar.umw.edu/cds_books/1