Comfort : an atlas for the body and soul

by Brett C. Hoover.              (Find the Book) We begin our lives, Hoover points out, in the comfort of the womb, where everything we need is provided for us. And, to a certain extent, we spend the rest of our lives seeking comfort. Drawing on his own experiences and those of others, Hoover explores the notion of comfort from a variety of angles: comfort food, creature comforts, the rise of comfort as a lifestyle (which roughly coincided with the rise of technologies such as running water and indoor heating), the idea of intellectual comfort, and the seemingly paradoxical idea that comfort can be a restraint on us (because, in seeking comfort, we may turn away from challenge). He also explores the cultural relativity of comfort, the idea that different societies place different values on some comfort: some cultures derive comfort from being paid attention to (say, in a hospital setting) whereas others derive it from being left alone. Comfort is one of those concepts that has far more depth and variety than we realize; thankfully, there's this insightful, engaging book to set us straight. --Booklist