Product Description

We often talk about possessing a "sixth sense"--an inexplicable intuition about certain people or situations that later proves to be correct. What if new evidence showed that the sixth sense wasn't so inexplicable after all? Pheromones--a form of chemical communication--have been long known to exist in the animal kingdom, and are one of the strongest forces guiding behavior. Only recently has science discovered the importance of human pheromones, silent messengers providing unconscious clues about the people we come in contact with--from information about our heredity and temperament to our sexual availability. Now, a team of leading pheromone researchers and scientific journalists reveal the primal secrets of our "sixth sense"--how and why it evolved, its effect on our daily lives, and its possible uses in altering mood and behavior. This entertaining book will help you understand your own senses, your reactions to everyday situations, and how to harness the power of this sense to fulfill your total potential.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1203445 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Pheromones, according to Kodis and her co-authors, seemingly work in concert with the five senses to influence our decisions to love, hate, marry, take a job, bond with a newborn baby, befriend a neighbor or avoid a co-worker. In an informative, intelligent and humorous fashion, journalists Kodis and Houy and cell biologist Moran explain how "pheromone perception" fits into the complex workings of our daily interactions. Pheromones are odorless molecules processed in humans through the microscopic vomeronasal organ, or VNO, located inside the nose. Not to be confused with scents, pheromonal messages taken into the VNO travel to the hypothalamus in fractions of a second. They are produced in the body and enter the world by wafting off the skin. Sniffing a man's smelly T-shirt may regulate a woman's menstrual cycle and enhance her fertility, we're told. According to the authors, the physical and emotional effects of pheromones not only explain why John loves Mary but why pigs sniff out truffles, orchids attract wasps and ants know their place in the ant hierarchy. Science doesn't fully understand the effects of these elusive,species-specific chemicals, but since their discovery in the 1960s by biotechnologist David Berliner, who contributes a foreword here, the investigation of pheromones has burgeoned into a technology with possibilities as far-reaching as mood elevation, birth and pest control, and the treatment of prostate cancer, anxiety and obesity.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

The Invisible Dimension of Human Attraction.
Just because you can't see or consciously sense that something is there doesn't mean it isn't. This book is an eye-opening presentation on how pheromones can influence our moods, emotions, and desires. Although we normally associate pheromones with animals and insects, it is also simply a part of being human. Scientific experiments recounted within validate the effectiveness of the power of pheromones, and even the existence of a mysterious human organ -- the vomeronasal organ (VNO) -- which senses the pheromones that influence our behaviour. The other thing I like about Michelle Kodis' book is it shows a rich historical connection illustrating that humankind has always suspected that there was another sense beyond our well accepted five senses that influence human attraction. There is definitely something to this concept of 'chemical communication.'

Misleading representation with few facts
Kodis and her colleagues appear to have borrowed heavily from "The Scent of Eros," without either mentioning or citing the first book to focus on the topic of human pheromones. For example, they offer a possible link between pheromones and homosexuality as an original deduction that is supposedly based on information from several different reference sources. However, this link was first detailed in "The Scent of Eros." In addition, the subtitle of "Love Scents" is misleading. I expected more information about "How Your Natural Pheromones Influence..." Instead, there is very little information about how pheromones do anything. This book is filled with speculation and questions. For example: "Could it be that the friendly attitude of southerners has something to do with their pheromones...?" Questions like this are typically offered in a factual context, but the questions are left unanswered. This leaves the reader without facts. From a scientific perspective, there is evidence of confusion. Specifically, GnRH and LHRH are mentioned in different chapters, and LHRH appears in the glossary. GnRH and LHRH are different names for the same hormone--a fact that anyone who is familiar with the basics of pheromonal communication should recognize. This leads me to wonder about how familiar the authors' are with the scientific aspects of their topic.

never look at love and relationships the same way again!
Did you ever meet someone for the first time and not like them without being able to explain why? Have you ever instantly liked someone after meeting them for the first time? How about fallen head over heels for someone shortly after meeting them? Some of us trust our "gut feelings" without being able to explain what it is. Others just ignore the "gut feeling" simply because we can't attach any concrete evidence to it. After reading this book, I've developed a much better understanding and appreciation for the "sixth sense".

We consciously smell, see, feel, taste, and touch. The sixth sense is our ability to subconsciously read messages given off by pheromones. Pheromones are powerful chemical messages given off by people. Scientists have long known about the highly developed Jacobson's organ in nonhumans. The existence and significance of the Vomeronasal organ in humans however is fairly new. The Vomeronasal organ is not as highly developed in humans as the Jacobson's organ in nonhumans but it nevertheless is there and does function. The Vomeronasal organ is located just inside of our nasal canals and its function is to send chemical messages to the hypothalamus (reptilian brain). Since our reptilian brain is not our thinking brain, we are not given a chance to decipher these messages, we are simply told to do or not to do something. The hypothalamus controls our sleep, sex drive, endocrine activity, hunger and thirst. We can always consciously resist urges we get from messages received by the hypothalamus but they are powerful and have a tremendous impact on us.

One of the most interesting experiments pointed out in the book was performed by a Swiss Zoologist called Claus Wedekind. He selected a group of men who wore the same T-shirts for a long time and had women covertly "sniff" the sweaty T-shirts in a controlled setting and to rate the smells in terms of which ones they were most attracted to. The T-shirt preference in the women revealed some interesting and conclusive results regarding sexual selection. After reading parts of this book, I was reminded of some personal experiences as well as what I've read and heard about sexual selection. People will denie that there is any type of natural attraction towards individuals of different races. I think what is pointed out in this book makes that oversight much more difficult. Darker skinned races (i.e. black Africans) have more apocrine glands (sweat glands) than whites and produce more androstenone, Asians have fewer apocrine glands than caucasians. Blondes, brunettes and redheads also produce different pheromones. So it's very much possible that people who prefer their partners of certain races and or hair color are actually attracted to the person's pheromones.

I would like to write more about this fascinating book but I'm limited by how much I can write in a review. There is a lot more we can learn about ourselves if we learn to trust and become more conscious of our "sixth sense" and break down our social and cultural barriers.