Book description
In this comprehensive and engaging volume, medical historian Jonathan Reinarz offers a historiography of smell from ancient to modern times. Synthesizing existing scholarship in the field, he shows how people have relied on their olfactory sense to understand and engage with both their immediate environments and wider corporal and spiritual…
Why read it?
1 author picked Past Scents as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This is a fantastic introduction to the history of smell. Despite being willing to read most anything written about smell, I usually balk at historical texts as often these have a soporific effect on me. However, this historical coverage kept me engaged from start to finish.
The chapters on early religious incense practices and the perfume trade throughout the Middle East and Europe are edifying. I learned a great deal about the impact of the economics of perfume on shifting trade routes, which is something I hadn’t come across in other books on smell. What truly grabbed my attention and…
From Benjamin's list on The best introductory books on smell and flavor.
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