The Emperor of Scent tells of the scientific maverick Luca Turin, a connoisseur and something of an aesthete who wrote a bestselling perfume...
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Feb 12, 2008
David
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Ever since I heard that the NYT had its own perfume critic, I've had a kind of love-hate relationship with Chandler:
"In Dior Homme, its perfumer, Olivier Polge, has used a light, assured, masterly touch to turn out an iris that has the grace of a Japanese maple and the careful, muscular cool of a leopard.
Béthouart has worked magic here, taking Versace’s genetics — its petulant Italian machismo — and adding technical virtuosity (the stuff diffuses perfectly on the sk More...
"In Dior Homme, its perfumer, Olivier Polge, has used a light, assured, masterly touch to turn out an iris that has the grace of a Japanese maple and the careful, muscular cool of a leopard.
Béthouart has worked magic here, taking Versace’s genetics — its petulant Italian machismo — and adding technical virtuosity (the stuff diffuses perfectly on the sk More...
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Aug 23, 2007
Peggy
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Here we sit at the dawn of the 21st century. Science has figured out the basics and is now just working on the details, right? Would it surprise you to learn that, in this day and age, we have no idea how smell works? The accepted theory is that smell works when receptors in the nose recognize the shape of a molecule. However, even dedicated Shapists recognize that this doesn’t happen all the time. The Emperor of Scent is the story of Luca Turin, a biologist who has proposed a radical new theory
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(5 people liked it)
Mar 04, 2009
Jane
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This book is about a extraordinary man (who wrote the Perfume Guide I just read), but more so, about the excitement of scientific exploration and the barriers to science imposed by its own scholarly establishment. With his multi-disciplinary expertise, quirky perspective, and rule-flaunting, scientist and perfume expert Luca Turin had an uphill battle getting recognition for his most astonishing and convincing data. A great read.
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Feb 28, 2011
Elsje
rated it:
Briljant boek!
Het boek draait om de zoektocht naar de biofysische werking van het reukzintuig. Razend interessante en originele ideeën en experimentele opzetten om je vingers bij af te likken. Telkens kom je een klein stukje meer te weten van de puzzel die geurherkenning is. Dit klinkt allemaal heel wetenschappelijk en moeilijk, maar nee!
Het wordt namelijk beschreven als ware het een whodunnit: heerlijk! De wetenschappelijke wereld is net het gewone leven met zijn vriends More...
Het boek draait om de zoektocht naar de biofysische werking van het reukzintuig. Razend interessante en originele ideeën en experimentele opzetten om je vingers bij af te likken. Telkens kom je een klein stukje meer te weten van de puzzel die geurherkenning is. Dit klinkt allemaal heel wetenschappelijk en moeilijk, maar nee!
Het wordt namelijk beschreven als ware het een whodunnit: heerlijk! De wetenschappelijke wereld is net het gewone leven met zijn vriends More...
Nov 20, 2010
Austin
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A great recommendation from my friend Carly. This book is fascinating and, at times, frustrating.
The subject of the book is Luca Turin, currently a professor of biomedical engineering at MIT. He is also one of the world's foremost reviewers of perfume. He becomes fascinated with the idea of how molecules are converted into the sensation of scents at the molecular level. The equivalent work in sight, hearing, taste and touch was done decades ago, but olfaction remains robustly debated. More...
The subject of the book is Luca Turin, currently a professor of biomedical engineering at MIT. He is also one of the world's foremost reviewers of perfume. He becomes fascinated with the idea of how molecules are converted into the sensation of scents at the molecular level. The equivalent work in sight, hearing, taste and touch was done decades ago, but olfaction remains robustly debated. More...
Aug 12, 2009
Billfrog
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I found myself in the library without any ideas, so I texted my brother for suggestions. He promptly sent me this one, and once again Joe shows great taste.
One of those compelling non-fiction reads, like Pollan or Bronson, but this one manages to make a subject more distant than food or employment (hard science) just as interesting as any summer beach read. Perhaps because it's also about the scientific method and personalities, but it doesn't at all skimp on the parts that, if they More...
One of those compelling non-fiction reads, like Pollan or Bronson, but this one manages to make a subject more distant than food or employment (hard science) just as interesting as any summer beach read. Perhaps because it's also about the scientific method and personalities, but it doesn't at all skimp on the parts that, if they More...
Jan 30, 2009
Kate
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Fascinating and also extremely worrying if the state of peer reviewed science is really as described in this book.
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Aug 24, 2008
marissa
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While I loved the initial reels of this book -- the gloriously chewy descriptions of the perfumes, so sensual I read them over and over before moving on -- all the scientific stuff and chemical components lost me. It seems I didn't really care about the scientist's quest for scent so much as his appreciation of it.
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Dec 22, 2010
Constance
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I don't understand why this book is so highly rated. It was so muddled - the author's voice was muddled, the characters were muddled, the science explanations were muddled, the overall story was muddled, and I could never figure out exactly what was going on. I pushed myself through half of this long book but I just really can't care any more about it. I liked the idea of reading a book that explained complicated scientific theories, but I don't feel like I learned anything, really.
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Nov 07, 2007
Suzanna
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Absolutely loved it. Chandler Burr's writing is fun and engaging. Luca Turin, the central character, is a testament to the fact that life is sometimes more interesting than fiction.
Oct 05, 2010
Evelyn
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Though I've hated Chandler Burr's fiction (the one novel of his I've read), this book--which documents the struggle of one obscure scientist to gain acceptance and recognition for his revolutionary theory on how our sense of smell works--was terrific. Burr explains the sometimes complex science in clear and engaging ways, and Luca Turin, the 'hero' is an intriguing and memorable character.
I thought the book also captured very well the contentious, jealous, petty, narrow world of res More...
I thought the book also captured very well the contentious, jealous, petty, narrow world of res More...
Sep 09, 2009
HHS
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Burr is the perfume writer for the New York Times. In this book he tells the story of an eccentric French scientist, Luca Turin, with an amazing nose and fascination with both perfume and the science of smell. Turin shakes up the perfume industry with his first book and then turns his attention to discovering how we smell. His resurrection of an old theory with new proof threatens to destroy careers and entire industries. Burr explains how Turin’s scientific efforts are silenced by a commitm
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Apr 16, 2010
Karol
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The true story of a scientist who has an uncanny ability to discern differences in smells, especially the smells of chemicals used by the perfume industry. When he believes he has discovered the as yet unproven mechanism of human smell he has a long and difficult battle convincing other scientists. A book that gives a realistic glimpse into the workings and politics found in the world of science and a peek into the intrigue lurking behind the scenes in the perfume industry. Warning: some parts
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May 11, 2010
Mainon
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Okay, wow. I absolutely loved this book. It had a little something for every part of me that wants something different in a book: there was science, real honest-to-God science, for the snobby intellectual , there was scandal and affrontery for the secret scandalmonger, there was talk of perfumery and the haute couture houses for the girly fashionista, there was exploration of research, development, and business decisions for the pragmatist, there was skewering of the peer-review process for th
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Feb 02, 2009
Cait
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This book tells the story of Luca Turin and his wacky idea about how your nose actually works. It's a very slow build for me, as there were about ten chapters that followed the following pattern: Turin hypothesized something, put off testing it for fear it would disprove his beautiful theory, finally ran the experiment, which did not disprove his theory, then tried to share this with the greater scientific community and they ignored him. Rinse, repeat.
It's an unfortunately honest lo More...
It's an unfortunately honest lo More...
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Oct 19, 2007
Mara
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The Columbia professor in this book, Richard Axel, who won the Nobel Prize for his work in smell and the same guy who gets so much flak from genius(?)/crazy(?) "Emperor of Scent" Lucas Turin for supposedly being wrong, was known to Nate when he was a graduate student there, so that added an extra dimension of interest to me on top of an already fascinating book. It will come as no surprise to anyone actually working in scientific research that the pursuit of "truth" is not ne
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Jun 24, 2007
Jae
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This was fantastic, one of the best books I've read this year. An non-fiction account of a scientist's attempt to determine how we smell things (which, hey, was something I thought some scientist somewhere, not me, already knew, but apparently not), with detours into the worlds of perfumery and scientific academia. The writer is incredibly gifted at making what could have been dry scientific theorizing compelling and suspenseful (at various points I was on the edge of my seat, wondering, would N
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Apr 03, 2010
Mag
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Part physics, part biology, part chemistry, but first and foremost a very well written biography of Turin and his quest for recognition of his theory of smell according to which smell is detected through molecular vibrations. His theory contradicts the well established theory of smell as detection of the shape of molecules.
The book is not only about the theory itself, but also about the reception of it among other scientists, and about how much the process of scientific investigation can f More...
The book is not only about the theory itself, but also about the reception of it among other scientists, and about how much the process of scientific investigation can f More...
Mar 19, 2011
Nick
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I began reading this book as part of my research into wine aroma. And I could not put it down - I woke my wife up several times to read bits of it to her. If you are a fan of scientific nonfiction written for the lay person, this book is not to be missed. You get everything from quantum mechanics to inorganic chemistry to biology. And if you aren't a fan of such geeky fare, there's passages on how good whale vomit smells after you age it ten years or so :)
Jan 31, 2010
Paul
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Absolutely fascinating in many ways. The story of a non-scientist's crusade to change the accepted theory of how we smell, it is a real-life Don Quixote story. Very compelling. Also, lots of great glimpses of the hidden worlds of academia, high-priced perfumery and the multibillion-dollar chemical additive industry. A great read not just for fans of science, but anyone who likes a compelling story about a true underdog or a genuine eccentric genius.
May 30, 2011
Karen
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Burr balances science, psychology and sociology to tell the story of one man's crusade to describe the mechanics of how we smell. Lucas Turin is a man obsessed with scent. Not only does he weave together the sciences of biology, chemistry and physics in an Ahab-like quest for the secret of how we smell, Turin also collects perfumes from around the world and from a number of decades. Turin, who has a very eclectic intellect, uses references from high culture and low to also write a perfume guide
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Dec 05, 2007
lisa_emily
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Sometimes the sciences are not as fair and objective as they would like the rest of the world to think. Sometimes radical new ideas, or radically-updated ideas, can be unfairly misunderstood and deigned to the rejected pile.
Some subjects are even considered not "worthy enough" for science, for example, scent. Yet, a viable theory about how another sense works, sight, wins a Nobel Prize. It is a strange world.
Burr describes that strange world of Luca Turin, bio More...
Some subjects are even considered not "worthy enough" for science, for example, scent. Yet, a viable theory about how another sense works, sight, wins a Nobel Prize. It is a strange world.
Burr describes that strange world of Luca Turin, bio More...
Aug 29, 2009
Adrienne
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Compelling, fast yet extremely satisfying read. Ever since reading Perfume by Patrick Suskind I've been fascinated bysmell. Not least because so many people have such different experiences of it. Something not really touched on in this book - but it really is everything you ever wanted to know about smell! The theories, the perfume business, the business of peer review of science. All of these are dragged out in a thoroughly entertaining and readable way. I understood the science! I also now kno
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Apr 05, 2010
Colleen
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I really enjoyed, despite the fact that I loathe almost all perfumes.
The descriptions of the scents are just so over the top, it is very funny.
I find it nearly impossible to belive that no one was willing to read the paper. The author indicates that some of the scientists compared Turin to a creationist, clinging to his outrageous theory; but evolutionists are always willing to go head to head and point by point in defense of evolution, shapists, not so much
The descriptions of the scents are just so over the top, it is very funny.
I find it nearly impossible to belive that no one was willing to read the paper. The author indicates that some of the scientists compared Turin to a creationist, clinging to his outrageous theory; but evolutionists are always willing to go head to head and point by point in defense of evolution, shapists, not so much
Feb 21, 2011
Xanh
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A great combination of story, biology and physics. Reading this feels more like reading a novel, in which the main character finds himself exploiting mysterious secret of Scent, rather than a scientific biography. However, i feel like the story has overdramatized Luca Turin ( http://www.ted.com/talks/luca_turin_on_t... ), who is a renown scientist, but not that great.
Apr 19, 2009
John
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I've gained a new appreciation for smelling stuff. Very interesting and quite entertaining. The biophysicist who is the subject of this book wrote a guide to perfumes that I plan on leafing through in a bookstore some day. he said "Tommy Girl" was the best American perfume ever made, but for my money, CK One flashes me back to 9th grade more effectively.
Sep 12, 2008
Sarah
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Burr gives us the real-life character of Luca Turin, an eccentric biologist who stumbles into the world of chemistry via his fascination with the process of smell--which readers may be surprised to know remains largely mysterious within the scientific community. The science stuff can get tedious, but Burr is adept at using lay terms and interesting metaphors to convey the "how" of various processes pertinent to Turin's research. This is creative nonfiction doing its job: using the devi
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Nov 07, 2011
Löki Gale
rated it:
A superbly written account of the scientific community's continued inability to separate science from politics. Of course, anyone calling the scientists out on this should be taking a look in their own backyard. Burr does an excellent jib of making the science palatable and the main protagonist understandable and endearing. Not necessarily a quick read, this book does require some time to sufficiently process.
Feb 13, 2008
The latest book of the month for Fountain's Book Group. It looks to be a great companion to November's Omnivore's Dilemma. This book is a fascinating look at the perfume industry, and the sense of smell in general. Nonfiction, it has an interesting aesthate and scientist at its center. Enjoying the opening 20 pages... Random quotes: "Odor...contains all the mysteries" (ix), Smell as something both "unlimited and instantaneous" (7.9), "Real men don't [wont] smell th
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May 11, 2010
Cerise
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i was a little disappointed that it was mostly about the subject's academic paper/new theory of scent being accepted/submitted/reviewed/rejected in various journals than about the history of various perfumes and their scent notes. At points it gets a bit too chatty with the reader, inviting disbelief and surprise, etc... the "dear reader" tactic is off-putting to me, in non-fiction. The pages of formulae are a bit dull, even for one as fond of chemistry as i am.
i shall be loo More...
i shall be loo More...
