The Kingdom of Infinite Space

The Kingdom of Infinite Space

“The Kingdom of Infinite Space is an attempt ‘to get my head around’ the head.” So writes Raymond Tallis in his innovative look at our noggins. What makes Tallis’ journey especially noteworthy is what it leaves out: an in-depth exploration of the brain. Instead, he focuses on everything from the way we perceive our heads in the mirror, to earwax, to the dynamics of our lips when we kiss.

Blending science and philosophy, Tallis begins his lighthearted journey with a meditation on what we see when we stare into a looking-glass. There is your physical head, but where are you? Are you somewhere “inside” that roughly spherical entity? After considering this enigma, we turn to the head’s various secretions—sebum and sweat, earwax and saliva, mucus and tears—and note the significance of each.

Taking in air is one thing that heads must do well, so Tallis devotes a chapter to breathing and its variations—including laughing, coughing, yawning and sneezing. And when we exhale that air, we are capable of using it to communicate with each other. “Speech is fashioned out of exhaled air,” he writes, “exquisitely sculptured by the lips, the tongue, the palate, the throat, working together in marvellously rapid synergy.” Coming back to the physical aspects of having a head, Tallis offers thoughts on both headache and toothache.

Further along, the author ponders how we use faces to identify each other and convey emotion nonverbally; explores the origins of blushing; and investigates the complexity of the eye. Readers will also find insights on eating, vomiting and smoking, in addition to the aforementioned kissing, as well as a look at our natural plumage: hair, eyebrows, beards and moustaches.

The Kingdom of Infinite Space proves that there’s much more to our heads than the gray matter inside our skulls.

Hardcover: 344 pages

Publisher: Yale University Press ( September 01, 2008 )

Item #: 38-4307

ISBN: 9780300142228

Product Dimensions: 6.125 x 9.25 x 0.0 inches

Product Weight: 17.0 ounces