Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Smellosophy
- What the Nose Tells the Mind
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
Smellosophy
Buy Now for £15.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
A pioneering exploration of olfaction that upsets settled notions of how the brain translates sensory information.
Decades of cognition research have shown that external stimuli "spark" neural patterns in particular regions of the brain. This has fostered a view of the brain as a space that we can map: here the brain responds to faces, there it perceives a sensation in your left hand. But it turns out that the sense of smell - only recently attracting broader attention in neuroscience - doesn't work this way. A. S. Barwich asks a deceptively simple question: What does the nose tell the brain, and how does the brain understand it?
Barwich interviews experts in neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, and perfumery in an effort to understand the biological mechanics and myriad meanings of odors. She argues that it is time to stop recycling ideas based on the paradigm of vision for the olfactory system. Scents are often fickle and boundless in comparison with visual images, and they do not line up with well-defined neural regions. Although olfaction remains a puzzle, Barwich proposes that what we know suggests the brain acts not only like a map, but also as a measuring device, one that senses and processes simple and complex odors.
Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Smellosophy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Clare
- 21-11-23
Don’t judge this by it’s cover
This book looks like a cheery popular science investigation into the sense of smell for the general reader. It is nothing of the sort.
I’m not a scientist, and there is a LOT of science. I AM an intelligent person with a better than average vocabulary but even I struggled with even the non-scientific parts of the narrative. Dry as a bone, it is humourless and seems wilfully impenetrable, more aimed to impressive fellow professors than create a work to engage a general reader.
The narration is extensive fast despite me listening at 90% speed. It did help me nod off though, but I’d still like to read the book I thought this was (but written and read by someone else)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Mrs. K. Locke
- 25-07-20
Dense information
Lots of interesting information in this book but challenging to listen to. Long chapters dense with information. As a person without as scientific background I would have benefited from shorter chapters and more time to recap and consolidate information to increase my learning and understanding of the concepts addressed in this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Tout en chantant
- 29-11-22
Incomprehensible text, robotic narration
Maybe this book is better read and listened to? I have tried but failed to keep up with the very dry text. it assumes a certain level it is not for the general reader
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful