One Kiss or Two?: The Art and Science of Saying Hello

by Andy Scott

This in-depth exploration of the complex world of greetings and how they have developed across cultures and throughout history delves into the science of body language, the neuroscience of greeting strangers and friends, and etiquette as an artform, with an investigation into the evolutionary sources of one of the most unusual greetings of all – the genital grab.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2018

Reviews

[Anissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the beginning this was funny and interesting and really pulled me in. The second half really started to drag in comparison. Don’t get me wrong there was still plenty of interesting ideas in the second half, but the author also had an idea of breaking off into tangents. And these tangents would last for pages, making the chapters feel quite long.

The concept was great, and I did enjoy the content, but I think it could have been paired down a bit. But that may just be my personal preference.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly interesting in the beginning, but then proved to have no driving theme/conclusion. Seemed the random data stayed mostly random data. Book then moved/stretched off-topic. Which if you're into Darwinism, liberalism and Conservative digs, you'll be fine. Left feeling very disappointed.

[Ayny · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 too much of the same thing repeated by other "experts"

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at greetings...

[Angelica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did. (I mean, what an utterly charming title!)

But this read like intelligent-amateur hour. Andy is smart, but he insists on dragging his personal foibles and awkwardness (so very English) into this book.

I wrote one of my application essays to Oxford on this very topic, actually, as an illustration of operating in international contexts. I really wish he spent more time on the etiquette of greetings, but instead this was truly a whistlestop tour of history, body language, anthropology, animal behavior, etc.

So TL;DR -- mildly interesting, but I don't particularly recommend, for people interested in greetings or otherwise.

[Mills College Library]

395 S4252 2017