We all have it.
But how much do we know about it?
Writer and publisher, Phillipa McGuinness offers us a comprehensive text about skin in her latest book. Across twelve chapters, she covers many different topics in what can feel like a tad dense read at times.
This is a well-researched book and McGuinness is clearly very passionate about her subject matter. She has taken quite a forensic approach, adopting different lines of enquiry. But, this proves both the book’s strength and weakness.
On the one hand readers will come away educated and thinking about several different subjects that they may not have considered before. But on the flip side, others might be left wishing they had received some more detailed or analytical analysis in other parts.
The tone of this work can be quite light and conversational in parts. This is especially the case where McGuinness interjects with her own anecdotes and observations. In other sections things can get quite scientific and she gives us facts and statistics about our skin. There are many different layers to it and it is ultimately made up of various components, some of which we completely take for granted when we go out enjoying the sun. McGuinness learnt a lot from talking to clinicians, including dermatologists, and it was eye-watering to learn about just how prevalent skin cancer is in Australia.
At times this book almost reads like a history of dermatology. Readers will certainly learn more than they ever thought they could know about different skin conditions. It may help some people feel empathy for those people who have these, as McGuinness interviews everyday people amongst the experts. This is a good thing as the world can be cruel and appearances are so often judged.
The context of skin’s role in history and themes like racial basis are also described here. McGuinness interviews activists here for their perspectives and checks her own white privilege. This lends the proceedings more of a social and cultural flavour to something that had been quite scientific prior to this. In the end, McGuinness does a good job in enlightening us on how complex skin and its related aspects are.
Skin can be very dynamic and contradictory. McGuinness captures some of these things in her intelligent work, Skin Deep. Her book is complex and multifaceted so it should appeal to many different readers. But there may be some who think this is a tad too far-reaching in its execution and were hoping for something “skinnier.”
THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Phillipa McGuinness’s Skin Deep is out now through Random House Australia. Grab yourself a copy from Booktopia HERE.
