Description

• How many smells are there? And how many molecules would it take to create every smell in nature, from roses to stinky feet?

• Who was the bigger scent freak: the perfume-obsessed Richard Wagner or Emily Dickinson, with her creepy passion for flowers?

• By scenting the air in stores, are retailers turning us into subliminally controlled shopping zombies?

• Were Smell-O-Vision and AromaRama mere Hollywood fads or serious technologies?

Everything about the sense of smell fascinates us, from its power to evoke memories to its ability to change our moods and influence our behavior. Yet because it is the least understood of the senses, myths abound. For example, contrary to popular belief, the human nose is almost as sensitive as the noses of many animals, including dogs; blind people do not have enhanced powers of smell; and perfumers excel at their jobs not because they have superior noses, but because they have perfected the art of thinking about scents.

In this entertaining and enlightening journey through the world of aroma, olfaction expert Avery Gilbert illuminates the latest scientific discoveries and offers keen observations on modern culture: how a museum is preserving the smells of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row; why John Waters revived the “smellie” in Polyester; and what innovations are coming from artists like the Dutch “aroma jockey” known as Odo7. From brain-imaging laboratories to the high-stakes world of scent marketing, What the Nose Knows takes us on a tour of the strange and surprising realm of smell.

About the Author

AVERY GILBERT is a psychologist, smell scientist, and entrepreneur. His groundbreaking studies in odor perception have been published in scientific journals, and he has helped design commercial scents for everything from perfume to kitty litter. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey. Visit him at www.averygilbert.com.

Praise for What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life…

Finalist for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology


“[S]mart, eminently readable. . . . a lighthearted book, packed with curious tidbits.”
–New York Observer

“[A]n entertaining romp through the science of smell.”
–Newsweek

“Avery Gilbert is the David Sedaris of the nostril, the Mark Twain of the nasal passages.”
–JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

“Avery Gilbert's whistle-stop journey . . . through, around and inside the nose is remarkably entertaining, and a great read for anyone seeking a tour that awakens the senses. Everybody who is anybody in the world of scent, and a few impostors too, make an appearance as we bounce from chapter to chapter, learning diverse olfactory gems.”
–New Scientist

“[A] great deal of fun. . . . What the Nose Knows provides a well-researched, even scholarly, compendium of olfactory facts and fallacies, woven into an enticing history of the uses and misuses of scent. Having dug through what one can imagine must have been some very moldy smelling archives, Gilbert presents a wide-ranging yet deep look at what our ‘noses knowses.’”
–Science

“[A] great book on an overlooked topic. . . . Gilbert combines a scientist’s sense of wonder, a scent-making professional’s sensibility, and a slightly Beavis and Butt-Head-like fascination with aroma.”
–Peter Dykstra, CNN Science, SciTechBlog

“The volume is almost a guilty pleasure (since smell jokes are generally vulgar), hence one of the best kinds of book. Besides its entertainment value, it is also genuinely informative. . . . Gilbert quips like a stand-up comic throughout but never lets humor trump solid, research-based information, which is nothing to sniff at.”
–Booklist

“A scientist tells us entertaining things about odors both pleasant and foul. Olfactory researcher and psychologist Gilbert asks a dozen questions in no particular order and then answers them--often with 'we don't know,' but always with enthusiasm and wit. . . . A beguiling account of the critical role smell plays in our lives.”
–Kirkus, starred review

“Psychologist and smell scientist Gilbert's serious science is enlivened by a whimsical sense of humor. . . . Gilbert is an entertaining guide and worth sniffing around with.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Avery Gilbert gives us an insider-view of the science and culture of smell with an enormous breadth of knowledge. We know so little about our sense of smell; the facts are simply fascinating and sometimes hilariously funny.  The reader travels to the inner sanctum of the world of fragrance with an erudite, witty and opinionated guide.   I loved it!”
–Mandy Aftel, author of Essence and Alchemy, Aroma, and Scents and Sensibilities

“The delightful and erudite Avery Gilbert employs his multi-disciplined talents as scientist, humanist, and fragrance industry innovator to present fascinating facts with a wry humor. The marvelous What the Nose Knows is likely to remain the authoritative popular source on the art and science of scent for a long time to come.”
–Richard Restak MD, author of The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love

“A fascinating exploration of our most mysterious and mythologized sense, written with the precision of a scientist and the flair of a natural story-teller. You'll never think of perfume (or Proust) quite the same way again.”
–Jack Turner, author of Spice

“What a nose-opener! Straight from the horse’s snout, this is a pithy tour of the smellable realm, led by one of its experts. Gilbert guides readers through a universe of odors that can reel you back to your fourth-grade playground or raise up your lunch. Page after page, he amazes: Vanilla-scented butterflies? Corpses that smell, predictably on day seven, of wet fur and old leather? Dried codfish scent dispersed in a maritime museum? I was anosmic, but now I smell!”
—Hannah Holmes, author of Suburban Safari and The Secret Life of Dust