Folio Columns 2003-2014

by Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez (Foreword)

From 2003 to 2014, scientist and perfume critic Luca Turin (The Secret of Scent, the A-Z Guide) wrote two widely admired columns for distinguished Swiss magazine NZZ Folio. First in the "Duftnote" he discussed all things smellable, from Blue Stratos to Mitsouko and the fragrance of a particular Air France jet. Afterward in "Either/Or" he helped readers examine the relative merits of such as heels vs. flats, trains vs. trams, or Captain Nemo vs. Captain Haddock. Written in Turin's inimitable and highly quotable style, full of passionately held opinions on subjects major and minor, pulling on culture high and low, Old World and New, aesthetic and scientific, these essays were some of the best loved parts of the magazine. However, the columns were only intermittently available in English. This is the first time many of these writings have been published in the original. Included are four feature articles also published in NZZ Folio, plus a foreword written by his co-author of the A-Z Guide, Tania Sanchez.

Genres: Nonfiction

318 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2015

About the author

Luca Turin is a biophysicist with a long-standing interest in the sense of smell, the art of perfume, and the fragrance industry.

Reviews

[Dave Pier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant little essays about perfume, the science of sensation, music, and politics. Most pleasurable read for me this year, especially in the earlier, scent focused NZZ columns. On politics, Turin is a bit right wing for my tastes, his views seemingly being based on a division of the world into scientigic geniuses/aesthetes and mediocre boors. He's anti-regulation, strangely sanguine about climate change, techno-optimist.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot get enough of Luca Turin's writing. Few can match his breadth of knowledge or his vocabulary for describing things that many of us may never sense. In particular, his commentaries on perfumery and the world of fragrance production are equal to the great philosophers of our time, and his thoughts are delivered with sophistication and cheek in equal measure.

I'd rank him among the best writers alive today.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent collection of articles from a Swiss Magazine written over an eleven year period.

For a fuller review see my blog at https://aarons-poetry-page.com/2019/0...

[Joanna Novembrino]

A great read will be had by all

Luca Turin can turn a phrase like no other. Whether it's perfumes, music, science, or math,you will be entertained and informed by a brilliant writer.

[Julia Kulgavchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five starts for the first part on perfumes. The second part is unnecessary.

What Luca Turin has to say about e.g. the poetics of grime is no more valuable than what I have to say about the poetics of grime, or any other person looking at the world and building their own image of the world. Those columns didn’t need to be written. The world wouldn't have noticed if they didn't exist.

What Turin has to say about perfumes is so much more valuable. Without those texts the world wouldn’t be the same. I’m grateful that these texts by Luca Turin, an extraordinary mind, are on a level that’s perhaps higher then one would expect from a magazine column. They don't give the impression of having been dumbed down. They don't care to be understood by everyone. Often I can only understand a small share of what's said, and that makes me happy because I see that there’s so much to learn about perfumes.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collection of brilliant short essays

Luca Turin writes about perfumes in the first part of this collection; his commentaries on fragrances drew me to read this. However, the second section (essays on a wide swathe of topics artistic and scientific) offers even more penetrating illumination than the first. So many apt turns of phrase. So many introductions to fascinating scientific and cultural ideas. Highly recommended.

[Freop]

I almost disagree with every smell he describes, but the writing is so beautiful and elegant