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Remembering Smell: A Memoir of Losing--and Discovering--the Primal Sense
In November 2005, Bonnie Blodgett was whacked with a nasty cold. After a quick shot of a popular nasal spray up each nostril, the back of her nose was on fire. With that, Blodgett—a professional garden writer devoted to the sensual pleasures of garden and kitchen—was launched on a journey through the senses, the psyche, and the sciences. Her olfactory nerve was destroyed,...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
June 16th 2010
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published May 21st 2010)
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Bonnie Blodgett's sense of loss in losing her sense of smell is palpable. Remembering Smell: A Memoir of Losing and Discovering the Primal Sense is the narrative of her adjustment to anosmia. It starts with a cold, a spritz of Zicam, and then phantosmia - six months of smell distortion and phantom smells, Bonnie's being rot and decomposition.
The cycle of disbelief, loss and adjustment is so familiar. Blodgett uses science to try and explain the mystery of her loss, and medical research to blunt...more
The cycle of disbelief, loss and adjustment is so familiar. Blodgett uses science to try and explain the mystery of her loss, and medical research to blunt...more
Bonnie Blodgett, a garden writer from the Twin Cities, tells the story of how, after using an alternative, over the counter nasal spray cold remedy she lost her sense of smell. This loss had a devastating effect on her personal (as well as professional) life. It is an interesting story...but...
Blodgett writes in the afterward about how, half way into the book project, she tried to pitch more of a memoir to her editor. The editor said no. I got the sense that Blodgett was trying to straddle both...more
Blodgett writes in the afterward about how, half way into the book project, she tried to pitch more of a memoir to her editor. The editor said no. I got the sense that Blodgett was trying to straddle both...more
Feb 11, 2012
Bethany
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who has anosmia and/or phantosmia
Recommended to Bethany by:
several people
I read this book in the midst of dealing with my own loss of smell (anosmia), followed by phantosmia.
It was cathartic to read about someone else's experiences, and feel a kinship. It can be isolating to feel like you're the only one experiencing a sense of emotional loss that comes with a major health change.
That said, the author lost me when the grief of her own sense loss, and the depression that followed, overwhelmed her - and overwhelmed her writing.
The scientific information was fascinatin...more
It was cathartic to read about someone else's experiences, and feel a kinship. It can be isolating to feel like you're the only one experiencing a sense of emotional loss that comes with a major health change.
That said, the author lost me when the grief of her own sense loss, and the depression that followed, overwhelmed her - and overwhelmed her writing.
The scientific information was fascinatin...more
This is a book about Blodgett losing her sense of smell (after using Zicam, although she was never able to prove the link) for about a year. It is a very fine read when Blodgett writes her personal story--her resulting depression, almost losing her career as a garden writer, and the strain on her marriage and personal life. I had never really thought about how important the sense of smell is. BUT, unfortunately, three quarters of the book is an exploration of scientific studies about smell...and...more
Blodgett's book is a good amalgam of memoir and science, heavy on the science. A well-known garden writer who developed phantosmia and then anosmia due to the over-the-counter cold remedy, Zicam spray, Blodgett delves into the neuroscience, physiology and psychology of smell. Much like Oliver Sacks, whom Blodgett obviously admires, she can take rather dry-sounding research and make it fascinating with real-life anecdotes. Ending on an upbeat note as her sense of smell begins to return, Blodgett...more
A friend gave this book to me to read because I am an anosmiac, having lost my sense of smell at an early age.
I wanted to like the book more, but it needed a better editor--It takes a special skill to write about science and the chapters devoted to the science of smell could have been the more interesting ones in the book, yet they came across hodge-podge and boring. The rest of the 'memoir' was about the author coping with the loss, full of extraneous details about her life, and I found her to...more
I wanted to like the book more, but it needed a better editor--It takes a special skill to write about science and the chapters devoted to the science of smell could have been the more interesting ones in the book, yet they came across hodge-podge and boring. The rest of the 'memoir' was about the author coping with the loss, full of extraneous details about her life, and I found her to...more
Oh, nuances. I give this a one star, but it's not as one-star as say, Sex 'n the Hood. It's not that terrible. But I just didn't care for it. The premise is interesting- no doubt, we don't realize how integral smell is to our daily operations, memory, and general well-being. And to suddenly lose it, like the author? Oh, that's awful. For real. But... when the author starts comparing herself to a chef with tongue cancer and saying that he's LUCKY, I was completely done with her self-pity and sens...more
An unfortunately amateurish effort by a woman who lost her sense of smell after using Zicam. This book combines memoir and science, and neither is very satisfying: the memoir is a bit whiny and long-winded, and the science comes straight from the Natalie Angier school of pop science writing. The arrangement of the chapters here gives no forward momentum or sense of a story--it's as if the author wrote twenty somewhat rambly magazine articles and put them together in a book.
This is not really a memoir; while it is about the author's loss of her sense of smell after using Zicam nasal spray (note to all: do not use Zicam!) it's more about the sense of smell itself, how the brain processes odors, a lot of business about pheremones & how taste is tied to smell and all that. I confess that I found all of the scientific information boring. I also did not like the author at all; I wanted to feel sympathetic to her but I just thought she was whiny.
I really enjoyed this book and would have rated it the highest had her writing been less silly. Her scientific discourse was great but some of her phrases and wording were too pedestrian and out of sync with the majority of the book. She made mention of her "yucks" in the acknowledgements and it made me want better editing for those. Also made me wonder who wrote most of it, or how much it was edited, and why it was edited incompletely.
Aside from that however, it provided a great discussion and...more
Aside from that however, it provided a great discussion and...more
We take so much for granted -- our intellectual faculties, our daily breath ... and our sense of smell. Blodgett, through her personal experience, takes us on a journey through what life is like without the latter. Some of the results you probably already know, but I guarantee others will be new to you. She is a descriptive, compelling writer.
i got about halfway through and then put the book down. i have an extremely strong sense of smell (as witnessed by winning this round in survivor saratoga!), so i'm fascinated by the senses and how it relates to our humanity. going through the shock and disorientation of losing her sense of smell with the author was pretty amazing. i appreciated her perspective and i feel for her.
when she started to meet with scientists and discuss what smell means to us, that's where i lost interest in the boo...more
when she started to meet with scientists and discuss what smell means to us, that's where i lost interest in the boo...more
Two stars seems harsh, but I had a hard time reading some of the more clinical chapters and didn't find her especially engaging. There are some interesting facts and insights, however, and it was good enough that I spent a day reading all the way through it. Fascinating topic in an interesting but unremarkable book.
A true story of a woman who loses her sense of smell. Several months of vile smell hallucinations followed by no smell has a profound impact on her. It also reviews the state of science of smell and describes how this under appreciated sense is more important than most people realize.
I enjoyed this book, an interesting combination of science and a memoir of the author's loss of the sense of smell. This touched me especially, I think, because I take such delight (well, maybe not always, as when the litter box needs changing) in my own sense of smell, which, despite my advanced age seems as acute as ever.
Aworthwhile read.
Fascinating book. She really delves into the science behind her condition. Maybe women my age can relate to the roller coaster ride when trying to diagnose any illness or malfunction. Quick read.
Repetitive, whiny, and filled with attempts to drag in scientific issues which the author clearly doesn't understand. I gave up reading half way through and skimmed the rest.
This woman suddenly lost her sense of smell after using a popular nose spray. It makes me glad I've never sprayed anything up my nose in my life!
Not as exquisite as Diane Ackerman's Natural History of the Senses, but still an insightful look at the signficance of scent in our lives, memories, and brain chemistry.
Jun 17, 2010
Cindy
marked it as to-read
Heard on NPR, sounds fascinating and one of my worst nightmares.
The story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
The story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
Having experienced anosmia, this is a very intriguing book. Not sure it's for the general public, though. Still, an engaging read.
I didn't love this, although it wasn't terrible. It was full of a lot of pseudo science and pop evo psych.
Interesting experince she lived through.
tedious but interesting
If Mary Roach had written this, I'd have finished it. Interesting subject, but boring to read.
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Blodgett lost her sense of smell following a one-time use of a nasal inhaler. She intertwines her experiences with what she learned about the science of smell. The book goes back and forth--about the time my eyes would start to glaze at one more mention of receptors, she would switch to more personal information of the progress of what the loss of the sense of scent was doing to her personal life and how she was learning to cope with it.
Much more interesting than I expected.
Much more interesting than I expected.
I lost my sense of smell at a very young age or may have been born anosmic. I found much of the scientific information to be of interest and explained a lot about my own experiences. I have never been diagnosed by a specialist and plan one day to determine why I cannot smell. My present physician wouldn't give me the time of day when I brought it up as an adult.
A gifted writer with a great premise, but this book couldn't decide whether to be a journal about a painful but fascinating life experience or a scientific investigation of a baffling medical condition. I preferred the former, but the author seemed to prefer the latter.
Interesting book but really could have been done better as an article or short paper. A lot of the extraneous information got in the way of the story itself and bogged the book down. Definitely not Oliver Sacks quality writing but not bad for her first book.
Great start, but the book really peters out quickly and I lost interest. I couldn't bring myself to finish it--the science behind her olfactory issue was so laboriously described and I just didn't become invested in her story.
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