Product Description

Funny, irreverent and passionate, "The Secret of Scent" opens the lid on two worlds - the glamorous and highly lucrative realm of the perfume makers, and the equally rivalrous domain of smell science. Smell is our forgotten sense. Long neglected by science in favour of more prestigious areas of research, it's also barely understood in general life. At the core of our sense of smell lies an enigma: why do things smell the way they do? How is smell written into the molecules? This book is the story of the quest to solve this puzzle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #874073 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"'The Secret of Scent may be a curiosity, but it is one that will have you smelling the silence of a snowy night.' Observer"

About the Author
Luca Turin was born in 1953 and educated in France, Italy and the UK. He is the author of many scientific publications as well as a much-praised perfume guide. He is the subject of an award-winning BBC Horizon documentary and a biography, The Emperor of Scent.

Customer Reviews

Fun and Furious
The most fun you can have with chemistry without blowing up the lab!
A natural writer, Turin is both a genius scenteur and scientist. His theory makes complete sense (no pun intended) despite the opposition from entrenched adversaries in the field.
Endows the reader with the vicarious excitement of iconoclastic discovery while honestly acknowledging the frustration of presenting it to the politics of peer-review for publication.
Yet it is a breezy read, hilarious in parts, and completely entertaining! Highly recommended!

save your money
After reading Chandler Burr's "The Emperor of Scent" I was anticipating a great contrasting book written from the scientist's point of view. Although Luca is a brilliant scientist and showman...he is not a great author/book writer. The book was a dismal disappointment a choppy one person view monologue. The subject of how Luca turned academia on it's ear by proving the vibration theory of smell....is fascinating. The story of the perfume industry and it's rich history.....mesmerizing. Unfortunately, the tale is well told not in Luca's own book, but Chandler Burr's book "The Emperor of Scent."