Thalma Lobel is an internationally recognized psychologist and a professor at the School of Psychological Science at Tel Aviv University, where she is director of the child development center. In this fascinating book about the mind's influence over the body, Lobel shares scientific findings about our senses and how they work in the modern world; she calls this physical intelligence. For example, it unconsciously equates height with power, weight with importance, and cleanliness with godliness. Here are a few more ways it shows up.

• Physical warmth (such as holding a cup of coffee) accentuates interpersonal warmth and pro-social behavior. (At last we know the reason why after church coffee and chat works so well!)

• Peppermint scent improves physical performance.

• If you want to be noticed and to send vibrations through a room, wear red.

• People who carry secrets feel physically burdened and hunch their shoulders down.

Our senses get quite a workout in the real world and now they are shown to have an impact on language and our perceptions of what is real. As anyone who appreciates a massage knows, we are very susceptible to touch and to environmental input. Lobel's report from this frontier science is fascinating.