A Brief History of the Smile (Pgs xxi-xlv)

Summary:
The first part of the book is an introduction explaining what led Angus write this book about the smile. The idea for the book came to him in 1998 when he was invited to address a conference of dentists and maxillofacial surgeons. In this conference, he was asked to comment on the changing criteria by which Europeans painters of the 18^th and 19 ^th century defined the beautiful face. He started to talk about artists do not paint teeth often on their paintings since they are so hard to paint. As the book goes on, he kept making connections on painting, and on how they portray a smile. He also made connection to an incident that occurred in Indonesia with a bomb where the prisoner was smiling to the police officer like if they were old friends. But then Dr. Ariel Heryanto wrote that a smile in Indonesia does not necessarily mean delight or friendliness. in 1972, O. G. Roeder wrote that sometimes Indonesians smile through tears. The warm response of the audience imbued Angus to find more information about this subject. As the introduction comes to an end, we are introduced to the different chapters (topics) that are going to be discussed in the book. These are "Decorum" (the polite smile), "Lewdness" (rude grinning), "Desire" (the coy smile, lipstick), "Mirth" (smiling and humor), "Wisdom" (the smile of reason, the stoic smile, the saintly smile), and "Deceit" (the fake smile).

Quote:
" It may be a blinding glimpse of the obvious, but it is worth noting in conclusion that the exchange of a smile −be it sincere or forced or spontaneous −makes us feel good. A smile may stimulate us in certain superficial ways, eliciting a ready smile in response, for example, but it also penetrates the deep recesses of our subconscious mind " (Trumble xlv).

Reaction:
When I read this quote I automatically smiled (ironic?) because I have always believed that a smile is cute (and more if you have a dimple) and says things that words cannot express. A smile can change anyone's day because it is something sweet and delightful for people. It is true that there are fake smile but no matter the mood you are in when someone makes you smile something changes even if it was only for a second. As Angus said, no matter what type of smile you receive it will always make you feel good no matter from who it is coming from.