“Extraordinary on first reading, even more so on a second . . . the sort of book one wants to pick up again and again.”—Oliver Sacks  
“Lively and erudite.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Gonzalez-Crussi writes essays that fuse science, literature, and personal history into highly civilized artifacts. Here are five such pieces … all of them informative, none of them predictable.”— The Washington Post
 
“A meditation on sensory experience by a Mexican–born pathologist who weaves personal experiences with history, science, philosophy and theology for a wide–ranging approach to our centuries–old but undissipated curiosity about the origins of pain and pleasure…. An erudite work.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review