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Rachel Herz
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The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell Paperback – Bargain Price, October 14, 2008

by Rachel Herz (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 100 ratings
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Why do some people like a certain aroma and others hate it? Is smell personal or cultural? How does it affect our choices and our actions?

The Scent of Desire is the definitive psychological study of the importance of smell in our lives, from nourishment to procreation to our relationships with other people and the world at large. Located in the same part of the brain that processes emotion, memory, and motivation, this most essential of senses is imperative to our physical and emotional well-being. It was crucial to our ancestors' existence and it remains so today, profoundly shaping our emotional, physical, and even sexual lives.

One of the world's leading experts on the psychology of smell, Rachel Herz investigates how smell functions, what purpose it serves, and how inextricably it is linked to our survival in this compelling, surprising, delightfully informative appreciation of the wonders of this sadly neglected sense.

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  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Perennial
  4. Publication date
    October 14, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.65 x 8 inches
  6. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Fascinating . . . A serious book, with many whiffs of delight.” (Washington Post Book World )

“You’ll never take your nose for granted again once you’ve read The Scent of Desire.” (USA Today )

“Intriguing...This illuminating book argues convincingly that the sense of smell should never be taken for granted.” (Publishers Weekly )

THE SCENT OF DESIRE was a finalist for the 2009 AAAS Excellence in Science Writing Award (The American Association for the Advancement of Science )

“Filled with intriguing bits of information.” (Weekly Standard )

“This is a spicy perfume of a book, redolent with fascinating facts and provocative hypotheses.” (Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Stuff of Thought )

“Astounding and sometimes mind-boggling with (a) wonderfully charming voice and writing style.” (Blogcritics.org )

“Charming. A reminder that life without aromas...would be sad indeed.” (Curled Up with a Good Book )

“A delightfully unexpected blend of personal anecdotes, pop-cultural erudition and scientific understanding. ” (Kirkus Reviews )

“A great reference book that everyone should read. An excellent overview of the sense of smell. It kills some of the myths that have long been corrupting Perfumery and explains where the higher debates should really be. Thank you, Rachel Herz, for gathering these facts about olfaction in one place.” (Christophe Laudamiel, Senior Perfumer, Fine Fragrances & Innovation )

About the Author

Since 2000, Rachel Herz, Ph.D., has been on the faculty of Brown University. She has appeared on the Discovery Channel, ABC News, the BBC, National Public Radio, and the Learning Channel, and is the subject of a Scientific American profile piece.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003A02WZS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (October 14, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.65 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 100 ratings

About the author

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Rachel Herz

Rachel Herz

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Dr. Rachel Herz is a neuroscientist specializing in perception and emotion and on the faculty at Brown University and Boston College. She is a TEDx speaker, has published over 85 original research papers, and is a professional consultant to various industries regarding smell, taste, food and flavor.

Rachel Herz is the author of several academic and popular science books, including the college textbook Sensation & Perception (Oxford University Press) now in its 5th edition, The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (2007; Harper Collins,), which covers everything you ever wanted to know about your sense of smell, and was selected as a finalist for the “2009 AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books”; That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion (2012; W.W. Norton & Co), which analyzes the food and taste-based emotion of disgust from culture to neuroscience; and her latest book Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food (2018; W.W. Norton & Co), which explores how our senses and psychology govern our perception of food, and the experiences and consequences of eating.

Rachel Herz is a dual citizen of the US and Canada. She grew up in Montreal and received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She is fascinated by human nature and loves all things scented and sensory. She lives in New England with her canine and human family.

Visit her on twitter @rachel_herz and at her website www.rachelherz.com.

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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • ReginaKindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking, interesting read
    Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    New ideas and new facts every chapter. Well written book that maintained my interest. The uniqueness of the human sense of smell well described.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • T. Shepherd
    4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting read
    Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell is a very intriguing book about our incredible senses of smell, and how it affects us. Inside, it goes into detail the immense gravity and importance that our olfactory has in our day to day lives, and how it affects things from choosing our spouses to life decisions, and even to our likes and dislikes. I found this book to be a very interesting read - one that I couldn't put down.

    I'm not a very scientific person, nor does science interest me. But this book opened my eyes to one of my senses that I had taken for granted - the sense of smell. I had no idea that it was so crucial to our daily lives, and the massive effects it can have on our lives. Rachel Herz did an excellent job researching and writing about our most primitive sense. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this sort of thing, or who ever wonders how our senses and experiences can affect our psychology and our perception of things around us. 4 stars, great book!
    6 people found this helpful
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  • K. Borello
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book about how our sense of smell effects our everyday lives!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I read this book you’re so ago when it first came out and one of the second copy to give to a friend it’s very interesting reads well and easily for a layman. The way the author writes kept the information fascinating but just technical enough to be interesting.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    A fun informative book.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • zet3
    3.0 out of 5 stars psychology yes, science no
    Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2008
    A mixture of medical facts, hypotheses, guesses, personal confessions, contradictions and folklore, this is a very pleasant casual reading. It is very difficult to take this book seriously, simply because dr. Herz quotes without single critical thought some "scientific findings", which belie our experience and plain common sense. Just take the case of communal menstruation, described as an accepted scientific fact - I don't recall any "cycling together" from my campus days, family life, my friends lives, or for that matter any mention of this phenomenon outside of the quoted research paper. Evolution, perhaps - women living together used to menstruate individually, but now they go for team performance?

    The chapter on the sense of taste goes one step further in the area of denying that up is above. We learn that preference for bitter taste results in bigger body mass, and that vegetables have bitter taste. The author goes to logical conclusion that people who eat a lot of vegetables have bigger body mass - actually, are fatter - than people who eat a lot of sweets. There are more pearls of wisdom of this kind throughout the whole work, which makes it highly competitive with formal humor books.

    I'm giving this book 3 stars for entertainment value. It may be full of nonsense, but it is cheerful, enthusiastic about its subject matter, and highly amusing.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Virginia A. Campbell
    4.0 out of 5 stars A very readable introduction to an Underappreciated Subject
    Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    This book is a highly readable introduction to how smell works. While the author is a leading authority on the psychology of smell she also gives an accurate account of our current knowledge about the physiology of smell, including topics such as why smell can evoke such powerful emotions and the role of smell in memory. I just posted an interview of Rachel Herz on my Brain Science Podcast (but Amazon does not allow links in their reviews). You can find this in iTunes but the address is brainsciencepodcastdotcom.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Leslie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Who knew?
    Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2007
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    As a physician, I didn't think that I had much to learn from this book, nor a reason to really care. WRONG. Dr. Herz tells us things that impact our every waking hour. I can't stop talking about this book! You will be intrigued by her research and stories. Your nose will have an elevated place in heart. Highly recommended.
    28 people found this helpful
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  • ford escort service
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good review of olfaction
    Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This is a pretty good popular-level review of some of the neuroscience of olfaction. The writing is clear and concise, and unlike other non-fiction books, I didn't feel like the author had run out of things to say by 100 pages in.
    7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Esmie
    5.0 out of 5 stars A silent loss of connection
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    This book arrived well on time, and well wrapped. The book is not as exciting as it sounds (!!) but very good information for us anosmics. Very reassuring to realise that others know how you are feeling, and do not try to minimise, or erase what is ,after all, a substantial loss to the senses. I don't think I really knew how much i was affected until I read others talk about it. Life goes on, as they say
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  • qt_cinnamon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2016
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    Great quality! Exceptionally fast delivery. Very happy with the purchase.
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