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That's Disgusting: Unraveling The Mysteries Of Repulsion (2012)

by Rachel Herz(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0393076474 (ISBN13: 9780393076479)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: Yeah... this was not a good read. It wasn't so disgusting. Rather, I found the author's main theory (we are disgusted by things that remind us of our animal nature/mortality) suspect, and she failed to cite to research that would support it. Also, it seems to me the fact that what's found to be disgusting varies cross-culturally directly opposes that, right? I mean, if the source of disgust is as specific as she says, then shouldn't everyone find the same things disgusting, across cultures?So, yeah. Back to the library it went.
review 2: I really enjoyed this book. It is a study of a moral and at the same time morally ambiguous emotion. It is a universal emotion found in all societies and most people but not in psychopaths. It is not ingrained however it is hig... morehly modulated by the society and culture we belong. Almost everyone gets disgusted by something but that thing can vary wildly from person to person and culture to culture. Women are more easily disgusted than men and conservatives are more easily disgusted than liberals. Disgust makes us withdraw from the object of repulsion yet it can also be a source of fascination as in horror movies and gross out comedy. It involves body fluids and sex but is usually extended to moral contamination. It is oddly enough an emotion that we do not share with other animals. We share most of our primary emotions with some animals but disgust seems to only belong to the human animal. Disgust often centers around reminders of our animal nature, body fluids, sex and mutilation and other taboos of the body. These are centered around the fact of our mortality. Our animal nature is propelled towards death just like the roadkill on the side of the road that elicits an eeeehw. It is a reminder of our frailty. the book explores many aspects of this complex emotion and how it both helps us and hurts us. I recommend this book as really enjoyable and informative. less

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