"Elegant and entertaining." ¡ª Boston Globe
"Alexandra Horowitz does more than open our eyes in On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes. She opens our hearts and minds, too, gently awakening us to a world ¡ª in fact, many worlds ¡ª we've been missing...The pages hum and shine as a result, warmly reflecting the author's genuine enthusiasm for her work and its revelations." ¡ª USA Today
"A refreshing celebration of the rewards of trying to see the world through the eyes of others.¡± ¡ª Chicago Tribune
"Insightful." ¡ª Publishers Weekly
¡°Engaging, amusing, and relatable¡¦¡±
¡ª Booklist
¡°Horowitz writes like a poet, thinks like a scientist, and ventures like an explorer. Her book will have you looking in a new way at the world around you, and make you glad you did.¡± -- Susan Orlean ¡ª author of Rin Tin Tin
"These eleven exquisite, clever and and tenderly recounted small adventures remind me of something I learned back when I lived in India: the need to perceive "the scent behind the smell." Alexandra Horowitz has attempted much the same thing with her eyes - much aided by the seeing of others - and has in consequence become increasingly successful in perceiving what one might call "the sight behind the scene." Her resulting epiphanies are available to us all, if we take care to learn from her, in this lovely book, just how it is done." -- Simon Winchester ¡ª author of The Map that Changed the World
"Alexandra Horowitz's new book is as wonderful as her first. Inside of a Dog helped us to imagine the worlds of our beagles, collies, greyhounds and mutts. On Looking teaches us that the world is just as rich, strange and charmed when seen through the eyes of our local artists, doctors, architects and toddlers. On Looking also teaches us that Alexandra Horowitz is a writer to watch." -- Jonathan Weiner ¡ª author of Beak of the Finch
¡°Undoubtedly one of the most stimulating books of the year, if not the decade, and the most enchanting thing I¡¯ve read in ages.¡± -- Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
Chapter Page
Amateur Eyes 1
Inanimate City: The Material of the Landscape
Muchness 19
Minerals and Biomass 41
Minding Our Qs 57
Into the Fourth Dimension 75
Animate City: Everything that Won¡¯t Stand Still
Flipping Things Over 93
The Animals Among Us 113
A Nice Place (to Walk) 139
The Suggestiveness of Thumb-nails 159
Sensory City: Things that Hum, Smell, or Vibrate
Seeing; Not Seeing 185
The Sound of Parallel Parking 211
A Dog's-Nose View 241
Seeing It 259
Sources 267
Acknowledgments 295
Index 297