Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells Paperback – October 18, 2022

This book is so interesting and a perfect one if you're a perfumer, a cook, mixologist, or do anything to do with smell or flavor. Basically its a huge book explaining what makes up all the glorious and not so glorious smells of the world. The naturally occurring aroma chemicals that make up the smells of fall leaves, the ocean, food, and so on. Anything you can think of. I think its especially useful for perfumers who build accords. I highly recommend!

I bought this for my partner, who'd already borrowed a copy from the library and liked it so much I thought he'd want his own copy for reference. I was right.Dang, this book is fun!

This book provides in-depth information about why things smell the way they do. What smells wonderful may contain undertones created by chemicals that, by themselves, l would be pretty awful. And vice versa. It helps to have some familiarity with organic chemistry, but that's not completely necessary. This reviewer does, and was fascinated by the relationship between chemical structure and "smelliness", but one doesn't need to go so deeply into the chemistry to enjoy this book.

Hearing the author interviewed on NPR when book came out, I was intrigued as it seems not many popular books have been devoted to our “grand olfactory.” At least, since I could not remember another such book, I secured a copy to read. As I proceeded, I found that the text is indeed, as its main title suggests, a deep plunge into odors and their chemistry, yet written in a compelling and interesting manner.Sub-titled “a field guide,” the book is a tome of 688 pages divided into a preface and introduction, then 5 parts of 19 chapters and a conclusion. Namely, there is the Preface: My First Grouse, the Introduction: A Sense of the Essential, Part 1, Simplest Smells: (1) Among the Stars (2) Planet Earth, Early Life, Stinking Sulfur, (3) Starter Set; Part 2, Animals – Dependence, Mobility, Microbiomes: (4) Animal Bodies, (5) Animal Signals, (6) The Human Animal; Part 3, Land Plants – Independence Immobility, Virtuosity: (7) Sweet Smells of Success, (8) Plant Volatile Families: Green, Fruity, Flowery, Spicy, (9) Mosses, Trees, Grasses, Weeds, (10) Flowers, (11) Edible Greens and Herbs, (12) Edible Roots and Seeds: Staples and Spices, (13) Fruits; Part 4, Land, Waters, After-Life: (14) The Land: Soil, Fungi, Stone, (15) The Waters: Plankton, Seaweeds, Shellfish, Fish, (16) After-Life: Smoke, Asphalt, Industry; Part 5, Chosen Smells: (17) Fragrances, (18) Cooked Foods, (19) Cured and Fermented Foods; and Conclusion: My Second Grouse.My favorite aspects of the book come in the Introduction as McGee gives the rationale for his 10-year exploration, an explanation of smell and an overview of the book, which then becomes quite involved. For instance, at the start (Location 71-73), the author states “This book is about smells, and about making the most of our access to them . . . a guide to the wide world of smells, nice and not, and the airborne molecular specks that stimulate them.” He goes on (in Location 157 -63) to elucidate that “Smell is such a powerful and revealing sense because it detects actual little pieces of things in the world” ---the volatile molecules given off---hence the attention to volatile chemistry. Indicating that smell is more versatile than taste, the author explains that odors are made up of composites of these “volatiles” likening them to musical chords. He continues a little later (Location 289-98) to detail that “. . . receptors register their target molecules . . . send electrical pulses .to particular receiving areas in the brain. . . the brain processes the many streams of signals and integrates them into a sensation . . . [and] coordinates all of our biological functions to help us survive in a complex, ever-changing world.” McGee proceeds historically and topically from the Big Bang, planetary and life formation as well as societal development to explicate the simplest to most complex volatile molecules and associated odors. He uses helpful charts to summarize particular items of interest such as specific flowers, associated smells, and the molecules from which they are constituted.As he progresses, McGee brings to mind other books such as those about other senses such as Levitin’s “This is Your Brain on Music” and Hockney’s “History of Pictures.” He also had me recalling physical science narratives such as in Green’s “Until the End of Time” or Bauer’s “Western Science” as well as psychology/neurology texts like Feldman Barrett’s “How Emotions Are Made.”While among the book’s strengths is the amount of detail, this trait is also one its drawback as well. At times, I felt it was going on and on. Then it occurred to me, the book would best be used as a reference that can be consulted as one has questions or comes into contact with different smells. While I did like the charts provided, they are difficult to read in Kindle edition, so if using as a resource, one might want a printed version.Even with that said, “sniff out” this book and consider the aromatic dimension more fully.

Couldn’t wait to get this after I heard author interview with Terry Gross. I have an extensive cookbook library and this fits nicely into the science of food section. Interesting for the science-minded.

Words fail me. (Almost) This book taught me a LOT about the smells of various foods, plants, animals, people, perfumes, and other stuff, and why we react as we do to smells. If this subject interests you even slightly, you will love this book.

My wife is convinced she is a super smeller... I got her this book and she enjoyed it, got her nose out of the novels and into some science for a little while.

Book arrived very quickly and was in excellent condition.