Human Face

Bates, Brian; Cleese, John

ISBN 10: 0789478366 / ISBN 13: 9780789478368

Published by DK Publishing Inc, U.S.A., 2001

About this Item

This book tells the story of why we are drawn to faces thirty minutes after being born, when even then our eyes can barely focus. This inborn fascination with faces continues as we grow up and become fascinated with the face of the one we love. Brian Bates brings his experience in psychology and biology to this beautifully bound collection. He has taught imagination techniques for actors, including face and mask work and has directed plays at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. This book is a journey of self-discovery. It explores the social and psychological aspects of the face. It is sometimes said, you never forget a face, but can forget a name. That has often been true for me. Why is it that I can remember a face so well? We all have seven universally recognized facial expression: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise and contempt. But we can make up to 7,000 discrete expressions. This work explores beauty in the eye of the beholder versus a universal agreement on which faces are beautiful. The area of sexual attraction and the naked truth behind facial features is interesting for many reasons. On a bright yellow page the index lists origins, identity, expressions, beauty, vanity and fame. The pages are visually stunning. With colored pages and black writing contrasting with white pages and pictures. The pictures of two individuals from birth to middle age showed how we change over time. I was intrigued by the "Expressions" chapter. Lady Diana's Eyes told the tale of her life as she moved from innocence to unhappiness. Did you know that the natural smile and the "masking/fake smile" uses different muscles to produce a similar effect. I tried this and it is an interesting experiment. The natural smile seems to use more muscles and includes my eyes feeling more brightened. When I try to produce a fake smile, I feel my face is in fact not quite as alive. Then, onto what really matters: Kissing. ;~} A few pages on that and suddenly you turn the page and start to yawn.literally. Just the picture of a yawn is contagious. Why? I yawn again and find it difficult to look at the picture and not keep yawning! After yawning three times, I turn the page! The chapter on beauty includes many famous faces. Julia Roberts, Calista Flockhart, Sophia Loren.they can be found here smiling. This chapter also shows that people who are beautiful are not always happier than everyone else. There are some very revealing pictures of a woman, before and after plastic surgery! Vanity is a revealing chapter with a beautiful painting of the Greek myth of Narcissus, where a young man was so enamored with his own face, he falls in love with his own reflection. By the time you reach the last pages, you will know an incredible amount about the human face. A fashionable collection of human faces, to help you understand why we are sometimes so intrigued by the faces of the famous, or of those around us. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face! ~The Rebecca Review.

Seller Inventory # 008108

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Human Face
• Publisher: DK Publishing Inc, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0789478366
• ISBN 13: 9780789478368
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

The companion volume to the August television series on The Learning Channel takes a close-up look at the human face to reveal a myriad of complex expressions that shed light on the nature of human personality.

About the Author

Brian Bates has degrees in psychology and biology from the universities of California and Oregon. Following researches into medical psychology at Cambridge University, England, he set up a program at Sussex University to explore modern applications of ancient tribal medical theory and practice. In addition to publishing scientific papers and teaching courses on consciousness, he served there as Chairman of Psychology. He has taught imagination techniques for actors, including face and mask work, and directed plays at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London; he also wrote a best-selling novel-The Way of Wyrd -- and several other books on psychology. Brian Bates now conducts seminars internationally for people in business and the arts. John Cleese was born in Weston Super Mare. However, he recovered sufficiently to be admitted to Cambridge University to study science. After sampling the conversation in the Chemistry laboratories, he switched to Law, but the success of the 1963 Footlights Review saved him from a career in court. After appearing in a Broadway musical, in which he was forbidden to sing, he became a writer-performer in The Frost Report, Monty Python's Flying Circus, the Monty Python films, Fawlty Towers, and A Fish Called Wanda. In 1972 Sir Tony Jay invited him to co-found Video Arts. This company became the leading provider of business training programs on video, which annoyed most of the Pythons. He helped Dr. Robin Skynner to write two bestsellers, Families and How to Survive Them and Life and How to Survive It and was briefly Britain's best-known psychiatric patient. He also started the Secret Policeman's Ball concerts for Amnesty, and has continued to do charity work, much of it, like The Human Face, for the BBC. John Cleese makes a point of marrying Americans, and is at least sixty years old.