of mind important in understanding the facial expressions of others (Chapter 6) and the moving, intelligent, insights that one autistic person had about her condition (Chapter 7), to a person born tongue-tied (Chapter 8) and those born with Mobius syndrome (Chapter 9). Onward, to those who suer from Bell's palsy or Parkinson's disease (Chapter 10) and those facially dis®gured in accidents, shingles (Chapter 11).
Intermixed with the interviews, biographies, and Cole's speculations are chapters on the evolution of the human face, the anatomy that underlies expression, studies with primates, and cross-cultural aspects of emotional expression and understanding (Chapters 4 and 5), though even these chapters are personalized by visits and interviews. Finally, in Chapter 12, Cole attempts to synthesize all his readings, journalistic forays, and learned insights into a natural history of the face, postulating a central role in the evolution of the face to the development of consciousness, and the importance of the face to our well-being.
A great piece of art will often invite you to see the world in a new way. Cole's book will do this for anyone interested in the role that the face and facial expression play in our lives. As a work of art, it is almost Proust-like, with its emphasis on the speci®c; or like a work of Magic Realism, in which a small segment of life is drawn in exquisite detail. It is a wonderful read, provocative and invites the reader to understand a problem from the point of view of the subject, a perspective often missing in our more scienti®c examination of cognition. But beware of being seduced by the stories presented and the beautiful prose in which it is written. We have case studies but time and again Cole will make the point that person X is not typical of those who suer loss Y. So what are we to make of those cases? We have his conclusions about the role played by the face, suggesting a unique role, when in face we have no comparison group. Would, for instance, the insights drawn from those with facial dis®gurement also be drawn from those with no facial problem but some other loss, such as found with thalidomide victims, or who have vision, but do not have hearing?
About Face is moving journalism and striking art. But though the scienti®c literature is often cited, the conclusions are based on one man's insights into a selected few cases and have not been subjected to scienti®c examination, using standard scienti®c methodology and cautions.