The Human Face by Brian Bates with John Cleese, BBC Worldwide Books,
£20, ISBN 0563551887
EVERY newspaper editor knows that a front page emblazoned with a picture of a
beautiful woman sells more copies than one without—and so, it seems, do
the authors of this book. Open The Human Face and the first image you come to is
a close-up of Elizabeth Hurley. The glossy pages that follow are packed with
portraits of the beautiful and the ugly, the young and the old—even the
cosmetically and digitally enhanced. But perhaps Brian Bates and John Cleese
have a better excuse than a sales-hungry newspaper editor.
Why are we so enthralled by faces? Because although your face may not exactly
be a window to your soul, it does act as a billboard, advertising your wares to
the world. Almost everything you need to know about a person appears in their
face, including their emotions, health, fertility and general suitability for
perpetuating the species. Women’s features even become more symmetrical as they
approach the most fertile point in their menstrual cycle, increasing their
attractiveness to men.
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On the whole, though, we’re less blatant than that. Think of it as an arms
race, with make-up, piercing and plastic surgery— not to mention the
quintessentially human capacity to assume a poker face—compensating for
our facial indiscretions.
The authors aim to prove that we find faces fascinating, and they succeed
triumphantly.