We are out of touch. Trapped inside our screens, we seem to be less in tune with our bodies and losing our connection to the physical world. But the sense of touch has been undervalued long before the days of digital isolation. Because of deeply rooted beliefs that favor the cerebral over the corporeal, touch has often been maligned as dirty or sentimental, in contrast with supposedly more elevated modes of perceiving the world. In How to Feel, Sushma Subramanian explores the scientific, physical, emotional, and cultural aspects of touch, reconnecting us to what is arguably our most important sense. Through vivid individual stories - a man who lost his sense of touch in his late teens; a woman who experiences touch-emotion synesthesia; and her own efforts to become less touch-averse - Subramanian explains the science of the somatosensory system and our philosophical beliefs about it. How to Feel offers a new appreciation for a vital but misunderstood sense and shows us the ways in which we can use it to live more fully.

Introduction -- 1. Dull: How Our Cultures Lost Touch -- 2. Numb: Life Without Touch -- 3. Mushy: When Sensation Crosses Into Emotion -- 4. Untethered: Will the Body Become Obsolete? -- 5. Softening: Overcoming Touch Aversion -- 6. Boundaries: Knowing Good Touch from Bad -- 7. Slick: How Companies Sell Us Touch -- 8. Haptics: Bringing Touch to Our Technology -- 9. Tactful: Building Machines That Can Touch Us Back -- Conclusion -- Notes.