"What the Nose Knows": Too bad this isn't a scratch-and-sniff book

"What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life"

by Avery Gilbert

Crown, 304 pp., $23.95

Everybody smells, but some people smell better than others.

I've never met psychologist Avery Gilbert. But after reading his new book, "What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life," I'm sure he smells a lot better than I do — in both senses of the word. That's because Gilbert smells for a living. He is both an expert in the science of human olfaction and an entrepreneur at the forefront of commercial innovation in the fragrance industry.

This book will satisfy the reader's scientific side with classification schemes for organic compounds, both fragrant and flagrant, and descriptions of techniques for measuring human olfactory response. But it is even more pleasing to the side of this reviewer that savors "a good read."

Gilbert is clearly a student of history, culture and literature. He links past events, human interactions and literary works with aromas, fragrances, scents, smells, odors, stinks and stenches. With connections to literary giants like Emily Dickinson, Marcel Proust, Henry Adams, William Faulkner and Salman Rushdie; cinematic pioneers like Mike Todd and John Waters; and cultural icons like Helen Keller and Andy Warhol, the book has touchstones that suit almost any reader's taste.

The book opens with the challenge of classifying odors and measuring their strength. It draws readers in with wines, flowers and perfumes, which "occupy the sunny heights of the smellscape." But then the author lowers the boom: "Beyond lies the Dark Side, a swampland reeking of burnt rubber, rotten eggs, and the silent but deadly guy on the No. 33 bus. Few people aspire to study stench — there are no maestros of malodor. And yet, if we are truly to understand the sense of smell, we must account for the whole of it." Succeeding chapters include discussions of "The Molecules That Matter"; the difference among normal smellers, quirky smellers and prodigies of aroma; olfactory illusions and imagination; the difference between tasting and smelling and its evolutionary consequences; the psychological effects of smell; and the technology of producing odors and aromas.

The most potent of these chapters is "The Malevolence of Malodor." It begins by examining the syndrome known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance (IEI), in which sufferers claim to be afflicted by a host of symptoms from fatigue to heart palpitations to headaches from even the slightest whiff of synthetic chemicals in perfumes, cleaning supplies, carpets and almost any other artificial substance of modern life. The verdict: The symptoms are real but psychosomatic. "The psychogenic hypothesis doesn't sit well with some IEI patients ... [T]hey resent any suggestion that ... implies their suffering isn't real. The good news for them, if they will only hear it, is that the psychogenic hypothesis points to a treatment."

Better news for most readers, except those with an idiopathic intolerance to dark humor, is that the most amusing section of the chapter lies ahead: "I Smell Dead People." Readers thus impaired would be well advised to skip ahead to the chapter about Hollywood's brief venture into Smell-O-Vision and AromaRama.

The book closes with a highly speculative look into "Our Olfactory Destiny," including both artificial noses and the selective enhancement of human nasal perception. Some readers might find the mere thought of having a canine sense of smell off-putting. But it makes "scents" that someone with a highly trained nose like Mr. Gilbert's would want to be first in line to try it.

Fred Bortz (www.fredbortz.com), an author of 17 science books for young readers, has been sniffing out good nonfiction to review since 1997.