Review by Choice Review
Lappe, a well-respected popularizer of anatomical, physiological, and medical sciences, has written a book that can be easily read and understood by the well-educated layperson, but which also includes information of interest and use to academic readers. The 13 chapters include an introduction to the integument and discuss the perception of the skin as a boundary (its anatomy and physiology, and its function as a less than perfect barrier), diseases of the skin and its role in helping the body in general to fight disease, efforts to augment and revitalize skin, and the future of assaults on, and protection of, the skin. A typical chapter overview will give the flavor of this book: "Barrier or Sieve?" the fifth chapter, describes the phylogenetic origins of skin; considers animal skin; describes how the skin keeps materials, including much water, out of the body; explores the myth that the skin is impermeable (and discusses why this idea took so long to develop); describes occupational illnesses; provides a number of case studies in permeation of the skin (including sections on herbicides, wood preservatives, disinfectants, benzene, and solvents); and concludes by considering methods to control permeability of the skin and to deliver pharmaceutical agents through it. The other 12 chapters are similarly full of information. References are cited as endnotes, making the book an easier to read and more appealing to general readers and undergraduates. An appealing book for a wide audience. General; undergraduates through faculty; two-year technical program students. L. A. Meserve Bowling Green State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
The skin is not just a body covering: it incorporates four means of defense for the body and participates in the immune system. Lappedescribes the skin's anatomical and chemical makeup and shows how it reacts to diseases and traumas both exterior and interior. The skin's greatest enemy is sunlight, and the glorification of tanning, Lappeshows, has done much to damage it and to create cancers. Acne, another threat, has been unfortunately treated with two drugs, Accutane and tetracycline, that have harmed more than cured; Lappetells their stories. Drawing from his own experience, he shows how silicone injections harm the skin and how chemical company cover-ups and overly quick FDA approval have allowed the stuff to produce dangerous conditions. Cigarette smoking has been demonstrated to cause facial wrinkles, and, he points out, "every designer knows cosmetic products produce `cover girls' by covering" --that is, masking damage. Lappeoffers more than the medical perspective, however, examining many cultural and metaphorical allusions to the skin. His informative and readable book certainly covers its subject. --William Beatty
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Unlike ancient cultures that prized the wrinkled faces of the elderly, we worship supermodels' smooth, expressionless skin and spend billions on cosmetics to achieve a youthful look. The human skin-its anatomy, physiology, diseases, racial connotations, its physical and symbolic role as our boundary with the outer world-is the subject of this involving, often eloquent study by science writer Lappé (Chemical Deception: The Toxic Threat to Health and the Environment). Considered a mirror of inner wellness in traditional Chinese medicine, and a vulnerable shield or a trophy in Greek mythology, the skin is today increasingly recognized as a permeable system, and recent research suggests that it has its own built-in, autonomous immune defenses. Lappé chronicles skin diseases from smallpox in ancient Egypt to modern epidemics of skin cancer, acne, vitiligo and psoriasis. He documents the hazards of silicone injections, ultraviolet lamps, excessive suntanning and chemicals in factories and farms, and alerts us to the potential dangers of cosmetic products such as soaps, lotions, moisturizers and skin tighteners. Foreign rights: Frances Collin Literary Agency. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
From the stratum corneum to the hypodermis, an engrossing, warts-and-all census of the body's largest organ. Making up nearly 15 percent of our body mass, the skin protects us, defines us; it even reflects our internal state of health. For as Lappé (Chemical Deception, 1991, etc.), the director of the Center for Ethics and Toxic Substances (Gualala, Calif.), notes, it is the ``border between wellness and dysfunction.'' Surprisingly enough, for something so visible and apparently simple, much about the skin remains unknown. It may have its own primitive version of an immune system. The colonies of fungi and bacteria that swarm over its surface may perform important symbiotic functions for the host. Humans are one of the few animals without significant body hair, but the evolutionary reasons for this are not understood. Lappé's own theory is that it was a way to free humans from the onerous, time-consuming chore of grooming themselves in search of lice, mites, etc. Of course, given that Americans spend six to ten percent of their disposable income on cosmetic products (many of which are completely ineffectual), the actual time saved may be minimal. Certainly, without skin, complex life forms could not have evolved. Unfortunately, complex life forms have a bad record of looking after their skin. In the Middle Ages, arsenic was popularly used as a rouge, while lead powder was employed as a whitener. More recently, despite clear experimental findings of its potential hazards, according to Lappé, silicone was widely used in cosmetic surgery. Lappé also bluntly chronicles the many dangers of sun exposure (current suntan lotions may not block certain hazardous rays), which we ignore at our peril as the ozone layer thins. Lappé's account is not as well organized and structured as it should be, and he occasionally lapses into convoluted science- speak. But he has succeeded in taking a subject that usually receives only skin-deep attention and making it both engaging and provocative.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
