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The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell
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Product Description
Shakespeare wrote that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But if you cannot smell, does the rose lose its sweetness?
The first and definitive book on the psychology of smell, The Scent of Desire traces the importance of smell in our lives, from nourishment to procreation to our relationships with the people closest to us and the world at large. Smell was the very first sense to evolve and is located in the same part of the brain that processes emotion, memory, and motivation. To our ancestors, the sense of smell wasn't just important, it was crucial to existence and it remains so today. Our emotional, physical, even sexual lives are profoundly shaped by both our reactions to and interpretations of different smells.
Why do some people like a certain smell and others hate it? Is smell personal or cultural? How does smell affect our choices and our daily lives? Rachel Herz explores these questions and examines the role smell plays in our lives, and how this most essential of senses is imperative to our physical and emotional well-being. Herz investigates how our sense of smell functions, examines what purpose it serves, and shows how inextricably it is linked to our survival. She introduces us to people who have lost their ability to smell and shows how their experiences confirm this sense's importance by illuminating the traumatic effect its loss has on the quality of day-to-day living. Herz illustrates how profoundly scent and the sense of smell affect our daily lives with numerous examples and personal accounts based on her years of research.
The wonders of our sense of smell are all explored in a compelling and engaging manner, from emotions and memory to aromatherapy and pheromones. For anyone who has ever wondered about human nature or been curious about the secrets of both the body and the mind, The Scent of Desire is a fascinating, down-to-earth tour of the psychology and biology of our most neglected sense, the sense of smell.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #359866 in Books
- Published on: 2007-10-01
- Released on: 2007-10-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 288 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Herz, a Brown University professor specializing in the psychology of smell, demonstrates that this sense is vital to our well being-so important to mental and physical health that its loss can drive some people to suicide. Herz explores the relationships between scent, emotion and behavior, emphasizing that scent is an important component of sexual attraction and thus crucial for the survival of our species. Many intriguing facts enliven her book. For example, scents are intimately connected to memory and can be used as memory aids; olfaction shuts down while we are asleep; newborns and their mothers recognize each other by their scent. Herz debunks the mystique of aromatherapy, which she says is effective because of our emotional associations with scents rather than because of any direct action of the scent. Emerging technologies of scent, such as electronic noses that can sniff out terrorists, breath analyzers that can detect diseases and marketing theories based on scents, are given a chapter, but Herz admits that she would rather see the development of technologies to restore the sense of smell to people who have lost it, because for her, scent is essential to our humanity. This illuminating book argues convincingly that the sense of smell should never be taken for granted. (Oct. 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"A delightfully unexpected blend of personal anecdotes, pop-cultural erudition and scientific understanding. " -- Kirkus Reviews
"Astounding and sometimes mind-boggling with (a) wonderfully charming voice and writing style." -- Blogcritics.org
"Charming. A reminder that life without aromas...would be sad indeed." -- Curled Up with a Good Book
"Fascinating . . . A serious book, with many whiffs of delight." -- Washington Post Book World
"Filled with intriguing bits of information." -- Weekly Standard
"Intriguing...This illuminating book argues convincingly that the sense of smell should never be taken for granted." -- Publishers Weekly
"This is a spicy perfume of a book, redolent with fascinating facts and provocative hypotheses." -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Stuff of Thought
"You’ll never take your nose for granted again once you’ve read The Scent of Desire." -- USA Today
Review
"A delightfully unexpected blend of personal anecdotes, pop-cultural erudition and scientific understanding. " (Kirkus Reviews )
"A great reference book that everyone should read. An excellent overview of the sense of smell. It kills some of the myths that have long been corrupting Perfumery and explains where the higher debates should really be. Thank you, Rachel Herz, for gathering these facts about olfaction in one place." (Christophe Laudamiel, Senior Perfumer, Fine Fragrances & Innovation )
THE SCENT OF DESIRE was a finalist for the 2009 AAAS Excellence in Science Writing Award (The American Association for the Advancement of Science )
"Fascinating . . . A serious book, with many whiffs of delight." (Washington Post Book World )
"You'll never take your nose for granted again once you've read The Scent of Desire." (USA Today )
"This is a spicy perfume of a book, redolent with fascinating facts and provocative hypotheses." (Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Stuff of Thought )
"Filled with intriguing bits of information." (Weekly Standard )
"Charming. A reminder that life without aromas...would be sad indeed." (Curled Up with a Good Book )
"Intriguing...This illuminating book argues convincingly that the sense of smell should never be taken for granted." (Publishers Weekly )
"Astounding and sometimes mind-boggling with (a) wonderfully charming voice and writing style." (Blogcritics.org )
Customer Reviews
Who knew?
As a physician, I didn't think that I had much to learn from this book, nor a reason to really care. WRONG. Dr. Herz tells us things that impact our every waking hour. I can't stop talking about this book! You will be intrigued by her research and stories. Your nose will have an elevated place in heart. Highly recommended.
This book is Fascinating, Witty and Articulate!
I was lucky enough to get a galley copy, and I have already read the whole thing - cover to cover, twice. The examples, the author's experiences, the hypotheses, all rolled into one are just simply fascinating. I truly believe scent is the most important sense, and it really changed my life. Scent triggers memory, thus I used scent as a way to study for the bar exam. I used a "scent roll stick." It was clove flavored and I used to practically bathe in it every time I cracked a book to study. The day I sat for the bar I rubbed it all over me, so much so that the girl next to me was mildly offended. However, I passed the test with flying colors! Thank you Dr. Herz! -Theresa Rose Nickols, Esq.
Who'd have thought?
Until I read The Scent of Desire, I never really
thought very much about my sense of smell. Things
smelled either good or bad and that was about it. It
had never occurred to me that so much of what I
thought was taste was actually smell or that scent had
anything to do with who I was attracted to. After reading this book, I will no longer take my sense of smell for granted!
