2024 Full Shelf Challenge V. 2: 01

Title:  Life in Five Senses. (Audiobook version)

Author:  Gretchen Rubin

Info:  Copyright 2023:  Random House Audio

Rating (on a scale of 1-4 stars):  Inconclusive

Where Acquired: Library check out.

Category (ies) - Impulse Reads    Bingo card:  "Number on the Cover"

Synopsis: After an unpleasant encounter with her ophthalmologist, Rubin goes on a year-long immersive exploration of the five physical senses.

The Positive:

• It is my experience, even though someone has a great speaking voice, sometimes his/her reading voice and inflection are not suited for book narration.  Rubin has the gift of being able to both speak well and read aloud well.
• The research, adventures, and experiences of the author were fascinating and enjoyable.

The Negative: 

• This is an ongoing complaint with Rubin's works.  She comments on what the "research shows," but gives no sources for this research.  Maybe the average reader doesn't care about these things, but I do.  Yeah, I know it's a teacher thing, but in all fairness, I felt this way before I taught college courses.

Conclusion/Takeaway:

Honestly, I'm unsure how to respond to this volume.  While I didn't love the book, I didn't hate it either.  I can usually rate and review a work without issue but this one just "hit different" so to speak.   It was well written and I was intrigued by Rubin's research and response.  However, this book bothered me--or more accurately, my response to the book bothered me.  While a previous review of mine described her work as dilettante-esque, her experiments and reactions here were genuine and well examined.

My emotional response to the book was sadness.  Was it seasonal depression coloring my view?  I don't think so; I felt that I was in a good place mentally when I read this.  Was I sad for the author?  No, she seemed to glean much joy from the outcome of the majority of the activities and reacted well to things that didn't turn out so well.  Was I jealous of the author?  Yes and no.  Not jealous in the negative sense--as if she shouldn't have conducted the experiments or written about them, but jealous in the sense of admiration.  While I consider myself very sensory aware, there is always room for improvement.  Rubin's outing to a concert, her hosting a food tasting party, and her daily trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art sounded glorious.  But how does that translate to cultivating those types of encounters in my own life?  I put some feelers out for some classes and art exhibits, but came up with nothing.

So, I guess the sadness was for myself.