Notes on the Need for Beauty reawakens us to the power and wisdom of beauty. Gendler illuminates the riddles of beauty and ugliness, contemplates the relationship between beauty and love, and gives voice to our hearts' need for beauty. Notes on the Need for Beauty celebrates the beauty that lives at the edges and center of our lives, the Beauty that builds bridges between the senses and the soul. It is a book to savor and share.
"Who dares not have a thirst for more beauty in their life? Who has provided themselves with the necessary time to savor the beauty that already surrounds them? Ruth Gendler's Notes on the Need for Beauty is studded with wise counsel and crafted prose, coaxing us gently to turn from our current ways, to better witness and so be nourished by the infinite beauties of the world – just as it is."
– Peter London, author of No More Secondhand Art
"In this time when we are losing our own senses by one percent per year, rediscovering the sense for beauty is an urgent priority that requires conscious employment. In Notes on the Need for Beauty, Ruth Gendler presents us with faceted seeds that can be planted in our own souls for rumination. She urges us to look at everything as aesthetic events, to not just look, but to look as if with our arms open. This book is a lighthouse of a gift for individual reimaginations for beauty wherever we uncover it."
– Paulus Berensohn, author of Finding Your Way With Clay
The very act of reading Notes on the Need for Beauty will change the way you see things. It will awaken you to notice beauty, to make beauty, to remember beauty. And this is a cause for celebration."
– Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom