One Thousand Beards

"Allan Peterkin is a genius and great historian. In order to write a book related to a cultural history of facial hair takes passion and commitment.

I just finished reading this book and found it fascinating, enlightening, educational, and historical. ONE THOUSAND BEARDS also had a brilliant editor. The content follows a pattern organizational content put together beautifully from the introduction to the bibliography.

Allan Peterkin gave me the opportunity to look up certain words that I did not know the meanings of. However, I completed reading the book first and underlined parts of its vocabulary. Instead of using the dictionary during my reading, I waited until I waited until I was finished digesting the entire content of ONE THOUSAND BEARDS.

This is not a four star book. It is worth ten stars. Forget about the 1992 publishing date. ONE THOUSAND BEARDS is current, to the point, and an incredible read.

I was so impressed with this book; I would consider it an honor if I could get my copy autographed by the author. Hopefully if Allan Peterkin reads my review he will contact me through Amazon and make my wish a reality.

I have a great deal of respect for its author. The only thing left to say is congratulations.
Steve Horwitz
"
~ Written on 2008-07-25

"I read constantly and have dozens and dozens of books waiting for me to read-but when this one arrived I read it right away. I had to know all about beards. I LOVE facial hair on men though I don't particularly like beards. Make sense??? What I'm saying is that I like sideburns, goatees, soul patches, goatees without moustache, etc. Just seeing a man with a heavy shadow and the proverbial 5 o'clock shadow. ALL very sexy!! I would have liked more present day photos, but I liked it all. I wish someone would write a book about men's hairy legs. One thousand sets of hairy legs. Then I would really go crazy!!"
~ Written on 2006-02-01

"I found this book moderately amusing when I first came across it but that was before I discovered Fashions in Hair (2001-9th edition) by Richard Corson, certainly the ultimate, definitive source on the history of facial hair. This is sort of the cliff notes version of that book...lightweight, whimsical, jokey, brief, lacking the almost overwhelming detail, historical illustrations and info of the Corson book (first published in the 60's and updated numerous times since). The Corson book is the way to go if you're a beard afficianado. "
~ Written on 2005-06-24

"I, for one, find body hair of any description totally abhorrent, so I found this book one of the most difficult and challenging reads of my life. Peterkin's description of hair follicles, for example, borders, at times, on the pornographic.
I had to skip the chapter where he waxes lyrical about the curl-to-density ratio of pubic hair because I became too nauseous to carry on reading."
~ Written on 2002-11-22

"I don't have a beard myself, but I know a lot of people who do, and this is a fascinating account of the history of facial hair that provides some interesting factoids and insight into the meaning of why some of us choose to wear hair on our faces. I gave this book to some of my bearded friends, and they loved it. It's a real winner."
~ Written on 2002-08-30