Research psychologist Rachel Herz says humans are victims of their own personalities when it comes to classifying what, exactly, they consider gross.
In "That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion," Herz has conducted a detailed examination of all things vile, from rotten food and foul smells to slasher movies, tarantulas and, of course, eating brains out of a living monkey.
It's not pretty and - more than once while reading - the word "blech" will be uttered with just cause. And while "That's Disgusting" is written with a Brown University professor's lively curiosity and good intentions, it's not a book to read while eating, or, if you're prone to compulsive thoughts, right before bed. Herz argues that women are often more sensitive to feelings of disgust than men, while kids tend to enjoy gross things more than adults, but as we get older, we grow more accepting of offensive imagery.
Cultural differences, chronic illness and brain chemicals also affect how disgusting the world seems to us. Herz also notes that human beings are the only creatures who experience the feeling of disgust, which is connected to our deep-rooted fears, psychological makeup and/or how we see the world morally.
"Our squeamishness quotient is a personality trait," she writes, before asking the reader to take a "Disgust Scale" multiple-choice quiz, determining an exact numerical representation of one's own repulsion.
So if you're one who wonders why you're so attracted to perverse horror flicks, or whether you could eat another human after starving for days on a snowy peak, this may be the book for you. For the majority who harbor no such thoughts, it may drag as case after case of heinous actions and frowned-upon behavior is offered up, with plenty of pages left to explain why, exactly, we're still shuddering. All in all, this book is disgusting.
