Research Catalog

Title

Skin : a natural history / Nina G. Jablonski.

Author

Jablonski, Nina G.

Publication

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiii, 266 p., [12] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.); 23 cm.

Summary

Our intimate connection with the world, skin protects us while advertising our health, our identity, and our individuality. This synthetic overview, written with a poetic touch and taking many intriguing side excursions, is a guidebook to the pliable covering that makes us who we are. This book celebrates the evolution of three unique attributes of human skin: its naked sweatiness, its distinctive sepia rainbow of colors, and its remarkable range of decorations. Author Jablonski begins with a look at skin's structure and functions and then tours its three-hundred-million-year evolution, delving into such topics as the importance of touch and how the skin reflects and affects emotions. She examines the modern human obsession with age-related changes in skin, especially wrinkles, then turns to skin as a canvas for self-expression, exploring our use of cosmetics, body paint, tattooing, and scarification.--From publisher description.

Subject

• Skin Pigmentation > physiology
• Skin Diseases > physiopathology
• Skin Care
• Skin Physiological Phenomena
• Skin

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-241) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction -- Skin laid bare -- History -- Sweat -- Skin and sun -- Skin's dark secret -- Color -- Touch -- Emotions, sex, and skin -- Wear and tear -- Statements -- Future skin.

ISBN

• 0520242815 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 9780520242814

LCCN

^^2006007731

OCLC

• 64592114
• SCSB-10288524

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library