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A review by brooke_review
Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World by Gretchen Rubin
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
3.0
Marketed as a self-help book, Gretchen Rubin's Life in Five Senses is more of a memoir of sorts, detailing a year in Rubin's life as she attempts to become more attune with her senses and the world around her. Presenting scientific information about the five senses alongside the activities Rubin (of The Happiness Project fame) partook in to enhance her sensual experience of the world, Life in Five Senses is one woman's personal journey through the landscapes of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.
Because I was anticipating Life in Five Senses to be more of a self-help manual that would empower me to explore the five senses in my own life, I had to adjust my expectations of this book quite quickly when I realized that Rubin was moving through the senses without providing any practical advice for application in the lives of her readers. Rather, she details her own experiences of making a daily visit to the Met for a year to utilize her five senses in a museum setting, listening to more music and creating playlists, and having a "tasting party" with friends where they blindly try out delicacies like ketchup and energy drinks. All rather pedestrian and applicable only to the author, making this book generally intriguing, but not aspirational.
If you're interested in reading about other's experiences without feeling entirely compelled to try them out on your own, this book will be right up your alley. For those of you looking for more of a guide to your own senses discovery, a better starting place may be just slowing down and taking in the world around you.
Because I was anticipating Life in Five Senses to be more of a self-help manual that would empower me to explore the five senses in my own life, I had to adjust my expectations of this book quite quickly when I realized that Rubin was moving through the senses without providing any practical advice for application in the lives of her readers. Rather, she details her own experiences of making a daily visit to the Met for a year to utilize her five senses in a museum setting, listening to more music and creating playlists, and having a "tasting party" with friends where they blindly try out delicacies like ketchup and energy drinks. All rather pedestrian and applicable only to the author, making this book generally intriguing, but not aspirational.
If you're interested in reading about other's experiences without feeling entirely compelled to try them out on your own, this book will be right up your alley. For those of you looking for more of a guide to your own senses discovery, a better starting place may be just slowing down and taking in the world around you.