Her tall tale is all true

Wherever she goes, Arianne Cohen knows "the question" is coming. Whether it's the cashier at the local burrito shop or strangers on the street, invariably someone will look up and ask: "How tall are you?" It goes with the territory of being a 6-foot, 3-inch woman.

But now, when someone asks, she can hold up the cover of "The Tall Book: A Celebration of Life on High." After her name is her height.

"On a book about the experience of height, it's the book-cover equivalent of putting 'Ph.D.,' " the 29-year-old journalist said.

The book offers up little-known facts on the topic. Cohen, a Harvard graduate, culled research and spoke with experts and other tall people to find out if "talls" really are different — such as whether they make more money than their shorter counterparts, have higher IQs or have an advantage in dating.

She also reveals her own struggles and successes with her height, from slouching at school dances to elation at discovering a Tall Girl Shop.

The book came about from a desire, particularly as a child, to know more about being tall.

"It was very awkward to be the tallest girl around, and nobody really wanted to talk about it," she said. "I would go to the library, and there was no book on the topic. If you talk to sociologists and psychologists they'll tell you being tall is like any other trait — having freckles, or having red hair or any other very visual trait.

"Really it's not, because to be tall is to be public. You have this very different, very visible trait that you can never hide, ever, for your entire life, which has its pros and cons, but I felt it was really important to talk about it honestly."

The freelance magazine writer who divides her time between Portland, Ore., and New York, got the go-ahead for the book a few years back. "This was the easiest literary project I've ever sold in my entire life," she said. "I would walk in, and they would be like, 'OK, she knows what she's talking about.' "

While her height has proved challenging at times, it's also shaped who she is. She gravitated toward activities where height is an advantage. She played basketball ("Rather than explaining over and over again why you don't play basketball, it's easier to just play basketball."), performed in dance and became a national-level swimmer ("On a pool deck, there's nothing but positive things to say about a tall girl").

The three years of researching and writing the book had an unexpected bonus.. She now is better able to deal with situations like not long ago, when, while walking with a friend on a New York street, a guy yelled out to her, "Hey, you look like a dude!" She was wearing a dress and had her hair down.

"It took me a while to understand that when people make comments about your height, they're really expressing their own issues," Cohen said. "That's really key, and I didn't realize that until I interviewed a bunch of people and looked at it so closely.

"So when someone says, 'Hey, you look like a dude,' they're saying, 'I'm uncomfortable with people who are taller than I am.' It has nothing to do with you, nothing. It has nothing to do with your looks, your self-esteem, your image or anything. That was a late-stage breakthrough for me."

She's spreading the word during a book tour, speaking engagements, and a website in progress called tallbook.com.

"I call it an online tall party. I really just wanted to build a place where people can come together and get information and know they're not the only tall person out there."