The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession

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The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 828 ratings · 142 reviews

The Emperor of Scent tells of the scientific maverick Luca Turin, a connoisseur and something of an aesthete who wrote a bestselling perfume guide and bandied about an outrageous new theory on the human sense of smell. Drawing on cutting-edge work in biology, chemistry, and physics, Turin used his obsession with perfume and his eerie gift for smell to turn the cloistered w...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published February 10th 2004 by Random House Trade Paperbacks (first published January 21st 2003)

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Feb 12, 2008 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008, unexpectedly-terrific

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 skin) to create the scent you’d...more 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 skin) to create the scent you’d get if it were possible to combine sugar, steel and graphite. The Dreamer startles you. It’s strangely mouthwatering, like a French pastry crossed with a Thai spice (caramel lemongrass?). Then there’s the hint of ice cream, gunpowder, star fruit, hot cocoa and blood-orange peel crushed on wet rock.

in the hands of Slatkin’s talented young perfumer Christophe Laudamiel, Absinthe is a blunt instrument: you smell the 1800’s Parisian bar, the fermented wormwood, the rich scarlet velvet curtains, and then you get the slam in the back of the throat as the poison goes down. Slatkin is smart enough not to genderize its scents, but men will wear Absinthe for its heightened reality."

What do the three text snippets above represent? The winning entries from some mad logophiles' parlor game? Random text from one of those post-modern essay generators? Coded messages from the Paterson, New Jersey terror cell?

Why, no. The gray lady herself, the nation's newspaper of record, The New York Times, now has its own resident perfume critic. The maiden 'nose' (so to speak) is an individual named "Chandler Burr". The text at the beginning of this post are examples of Chandler's writing style.

As a grateful subscriber, all I can say is that this is the most poop-in-your pants exciting news in years. And the poop of which I speak would have an almost tropical bouquet, redolent of the chickenshit and antibiotic slurry in your local poultry plant, mingled with the fresh diarrhea of a hormone-packed cow just entering the slaughterhouse, with brusque overtones of that old-people smell in the elder-abusing nursing home where you've stashed Grammy, almost as if you'd managed to crush a baby kitten's brain in a Krups blender. And blood-oranges. And the muscular androgynous calm of Jeffrey on Project Runway as he prances, hyena-like, through the studios and canyons of Manhattan.
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Aug 23, 2007 Peggy rated it 5 of 5 stars

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...more 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 for how smell works. Turin believes that receptors in the nose recognize vibrations, just like the eyes and ears do. Turin’s Vibrational theory neatly sidesteps all of the problems associated with the Shape theory. If true, Turin’s theory would revolutionize the perfume industry. The Emperor of Scent is also the story of how the scientific community has reacted to Turin’s theory, and it’s a fascinating tale of luck, greed, and arrogance.

The first ¾ of the book is fascinating, because if Turin had not had such varied interests, he never would have gathered all of the little tidbits of information that allowed him to make his theoretical leap. If he had never been fascinated by perfume as a child, he would not have caught the attention of the secretive perfume industry which allowed him access to their laboratories. If he was able to stay focused on whatever project was at hand, he wouldn’t have started reading a journal that was outside of his professional purview and would have missed the article about how electron tunneling works. If he were easily cowed, he would have given up on his theory when all of the experts in his field denounced it repeatedly. The book would be compelling reading if it stopped here, but it doesn’t.

At this point in the book, the author weighs in with a chapter. Burr understands that books like this are supposed to be more balanced, presenting opposing viewpoints to give the audience some perspective on his subject. He explains that he would happily do so if those holding the opposing viewpoints would bother to reply to phone calls or email. Even more interestingly, those who do reply dismiss Turin’s theory out of hand. When pressed about specific points in the paper, they admit they haven’t read it, and seem offended that Burr expects them to. We tend to think of scientists as being above this sort of petty and juvenile behavior, but Burr pulls back the curtain and gives us a glimpse of the Wizard in his true form, and you can’t look away.

The last section of the book details Turin’s appearance at a conference where he presents his theory to some of the giants in his field. The reception is polite, but not spectacular. Some of the top scientists in the field do question Turin, and he responds to their points with a charming mixture of exuberance and exasperation. This is where the imbalance of the book is most glaring. Those who don’t accept the theory, it is implied, are either unwilling or unable to see the truth. It’s all very convincing, but perhaps a bit too convincing. You end up wishing that Turin would run up against someone as smart and stubborn as he is so you could see a real debate on the merits of Turin’s theory.

Is Turin’s theory legitimate? Has he cracked the riddle of how smell? Is his science up to snuff? I don’t know. I’m a bookseller, not a scientist. But Burr does an excellent job of making the science behind Turin’s theory make sense to someone with no scientific background while still maintaining the flow of the story. From the information we’re given, it certainly seems like Turin is onto something. Would the book have benefited from more balance? Certainly. Should Burr have given up on the book when Turin’s detractors refused to cooperate? Certainly not; it’s too much fun to be missed. The Emperor of Scent is a book much like its protagonist: sharp, smart, unconventional, pugnacious, and entertaining.

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Mar 04, 2009 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2006

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 vriendschappen en steun versus...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Austin rated it 5 of 5 stars

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.

Luca Turi...more

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Aug 12, 2009 Billfrog rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 don't make...more

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Jan 30, 2009 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, non-fiction, reference

Fascinating and also extremely worrying if the state of peer reviewed science is really as described in this book.

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May 22, 2012 Alicia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: highly-recommended

Just this minute finished it.

What is it about?
1. How does our nose distinguish one scent from another? The answer is complicated and very controversial. Our hero discovers, or refines, a theory that the nose senses the vibrations of electron bonds. Lots and lots of chemistry and physics discussion, most of which after a preliminary grapple, lays me flat while the referee counts to 10. The ability to taste, by the way, is dismissed in a sentence or two as scent receptors on the tongue, which I su...more Just this minute finished it.

What is it about?
1. How does our nose distinguish one scent from another? The answer is complicated and very controversial. Our hero discovers, or refines, a theory that the nose senses the vibrations of electron bonds. Lots and lots of chemistry and physics discussion, most of which after a preliminary grapple, lays me flat while the referee counts to 10. The ability to taste, by the way, is dismissed in a sentence or two as scent receptors on the tongue, which I suspect may not quite cover it. But then again, it might.
2. The life and science of Luca Turin, a biologist turned physicist with a talent for language and the sidebar ability to accurately identify a scent in words. He is larger than life (and still living), full of himself, ideas, curiosity, intelligence, music, and a passion for perfumes. He does something rare in science: he learns several disciplines [bio physics, quantum mechanics, and chemistry] so that he can know enough to answer the questions that bedevil him. He is charming and mercurial and a pain in the ass. As portrayed by Burr, he is fascinating.
3. The tangled, self referential, judgmental, biased, protective world of modern science and research. The bumper sticker would put it, “It’s Ugly out there.” Just as I am disappointed when the Supremes come up with Gore v Bush or Dred Scott, I am disappointed, though unsurprised, at the pettiness of haute science. More cracks in the facade of an intellectual bastion.
4. A touch of philosophy at the end “…there is no such thing as disconnected facts. There is only complex structure.”[Turin]. As I believe this to be true about all of life, I thought it was a terrific ‘fini’…

Can Chandler Burr write? Oh my, yes. Burr does a wonderful job explaining to people like me who are willing but have no idea what is actually being discussed. I expect he could translate Stephen Hawkings well enough to triple the cognoscenti (which would mean 45 people total would really know what Hawkings is saying and the rest of us would have a pretty good if vague idea). I followed about half of the science before I started skipping the hard parts. The fault is entirely mine. Burr breaks up the heavy weight discussion with rhetorical frills and pauses that allow you to catch your breath before the next concept comes along.

He does it with panache -- humor, enthusiasm, curiosity and a wonderful eye. He can sum up a personality in a clause. Some of the people who appear in the book are intellectual snobs (actually quite a number of them) and Burr skewers them without drawing blood, delighting the reader along the way. His tone is entirely conversational without an ounce of condescension. His touch is very light so his illustration of his various points is painlessly learned. This is the guy I want to take physics and chemistry from when I go back to school. Oh, and evolutionary biology. He’d be great at that too.

On the creative writing side of the ledger, he captures the details that allow you to extrapolate the entire setting. Witty and comfortable. He credibly suggests that some perfumes reach the point where they can be described as art. As I feel that way about some cooking, I tend to agree. This partial biography of Turin, whom he obviously admires, doesn’t miss the personality defects that help Turin get in his own way.

Not quite to the point of true love, but I enjoyed this much more than expected. One of these days, I might read it again.

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Nov 07, 2012 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very absorbing reading. I have always been very sensitive to smells of any kind, but only in the last couple years have I started to wonder what makes things smell the way they do. Following that inquiry I did some research and found that what we smell are molecules, so basil smells similar to certain mints, and rosemary smells a little like mugwort, because they contain some (but not all) of the same molecules. Having learned that much was already like opening a new door in a huge and beautiful...more

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Aug 24, 2008 marissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

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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Nov 07, 2012 Rusty rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Trained as a biologist, the highly intelligent Luca Turin becomes fascinated with perfumes. How does the nose identify odors? He begins collecting the great perfumes, studies chemistry and physics to determine how the molecules behave. His research convinces him that the commonly accepted theory of shape is not a determiner of the odors perceived by one's nose.

Luca researches and experiments until he begins to find that he may have unraveled the way we identify odors. His work convinces him that...more

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May 23, 2012 Dave Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

a really wonderful, page-turning, and fascinating glimpse into the cliquish world of science and the peer review process. ultimately, it's about a man who stumbles across a completely new theory of scent that makes more sense than the more commonly accepted one, only to be chastised by his fellow peers of science--for only God knows why. i already knew a fair bit about Luca Turin, having watched a presentation he did on scent on a TED talk. some of that info is in this book, but this obviously d...more

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Dec 22, 2010 Constance rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

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.

I don't mean...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Nicki rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really liked this one. The story of scientist/perfume lover Luca Turin's discovery of a new theory of smell. The book details Turin's history and how his broad scientific interests led him to come up with his new theory. There is also a lot of information about the scientific community, how researching and publishing works, and especially Turin's effort to get his new theory noticed. The science itself is well explained and I liked reading about Turin's personal connection to it - he apparentl...more I really liked this one. The story of scientist/perfume lover Luca Turin's discovery of a new theory of smell. The book details Turin's history and how his broad scientific interests led him to come up with his new theory. There is also a lot of information about the scientific community, how researching and publishing works, and especially Turin's effort to get his new theory noticed. The science itself is well explained and I liked reading about Turin's personal connection to it - he apparently has a very sensitive sense of smell and even as a child was noticing the scent of everything around him. The book also talks about the perfume industry - the commercial side (the scent of candles, cleaning products, etc.) and especially high-end perfume. It's great to read Turin's opinion on perfumes and fascinating to find out how they're made (did you know, for example, that you can patent a molecule??).

The only complaint that I have about this book is that it only presents one side of the story - Turin's discovery and subsequent efforts (and eventually failure) to get his theory noticed, respected, and published. The author added a chapter in the middle of the book stating how he tried to go to other scientists to get the other side of the story, but that the scientific community at large (besides a very few who had worked with Turin) was unwilling to even read Turin's paper, much less discuss his theory or even recognize what he was doing as legitimate science (apparently many scientists don't think smell is concrete - that it's totally subjective according to the person doing the smelling). This leaves me with a dilemma, because although I found the science in the book convincing as presented, I don't know enough about it to know whether to believe Turin or not, especially with the lack of a rebuttal. To me, the science community's unwillingness to even broach the subject of Turin makes me think either that his new theory is totally correct, and would totally change the billion-dollar scent industry as we know it, or he's totally full of baloney. Unfortunately, there's no way I can tell which one.

Overall, a great read on a fascinating subject which I knew little about. I'm left with a desire to learn more about the science of scent and especially how it is used in modern industry. A little disclaimer - Turin does not have a very clean vocabulary. There are several instances of bad language in the book. I found it did not detract from the story (in fact, it told me more about the personality of Turin), but you have been warned. (less)

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Nov 07, 2007 Suzanna rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone who has an interest in science, scent, or both

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.

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Oct 25, 2012 Asim Khan rated it 4 of 5 stars

The hero of this story, which has to do with how we employ our sense of smell, Luca Turin, is a loveable heretic. Using his expertise with perfumes--Turin published Le Guide Parfum, the fragrance industry's bible-- as a touchstone for his theories, Turin disrobes the secretive world of the French perfume giants and exposes the vested interests that can corrupt good science.

Here's a shocking nugget in Turin's words, "For a perfumer there is no bad smell. All the great French perfumes, every last...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Evelyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 research scient...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

When scientist Luca Turin proposes a new theory about how smell works, one would expect the scientific community to be skeptical but at least give thoughtful objection. What Turin encountered was a world of scientists who refused to give up an old theory in the face of overwhelming evidence that this theory doesn't work and a refusal to even consider Turin's very plausible theory. The Emperor of Scent is not just about the mystery of how we smell, but also of how the scientific community does or...more

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Sep 09, 2009 HHS Staff rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 commitment...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

As I love scent, I just loved this book. It was an amazing combination of information on Luca Turin ( whose book on perfumes is a true classic), on perfume, on the scientific method, and on the world of "smell" science. Some of it was slow going for me - who has no science - and I would have to read and reread sections, but the description of Turin the man and scientist and of perfumes were
wonderful. I did some subsequent research to discover the current status of the vibrational frequency vs. m...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Mai rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who enjoys non-fiction, really

Shelves: kindle-books, nonfiction

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 the...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Cait rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like science, first-year biophysicists

Shelves: true-stories-that-are-amazing

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 look at the sci...more

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Oct 19, 2007 Mara rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: science wonks and people who like to smell good

Shelves: nonfiction

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 nearly as important as...more

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Jun 24, 2007 Jae rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Apr 03, 2010 Mag rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science

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 fail, s...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Nick Stengel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

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 :)

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Jan 31, 2010 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

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.

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May 30, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Karen by: Francoise Nelles

Shelves: nonfiction, science

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...more

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Dec 05, 2007 lisa_emily rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: perfumistas, lovers of scientist stories

Shelves: biographies-memoirs

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, biophysicist, and smell theorist; and...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Adrienne rated it 4 of 5 stars

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...more

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About Chandler Burr

Chandler Burr is the New York Times scent critic and author of The Perfect Scent, The Emperor of Scent, and A Separate Creation. He has written for the Atlantic and the New Yorker. He lives in New York City.

More about Chandler Burr...

Books by Chandler Burr

The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York

Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation

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“Metaphor is the currency of knowledge. I have spent my life learning incredible amounts of disparate, disconnected, obscure, useless pieces of knowledge, and they have turned out to be, almost all of them, extremely useful.” — 1 person liked it

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