The Smell Of Fresh Rain: The Unexpected Pleasures Of Our Most Elusive Sense

Author: Barney Shaw

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $15.00 NZD
  • : 9781785781131
  • : Icon Books, Limited
  • : Icon Books, Limited
  • :
  • : 0.43
  • : October 2017
  • : 21.60 cmmm X 13.50 cmmm
  • : United Kingdom
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Barney Shaw
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  • : Hardback
  • : 917
  • :
  • : en
  • : very good
  • : 304
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Barcode 9781785781131
9781785781131

Description

What do we actually mean when we say that something smells of fresh paint? Or frying bacon? And what does five o clock in the morning smell like? Inspired by an unsettlingly synaesthesic question put to him by his son, Barney Shaw looks into the science of smell: peering behind its sensory nature to discover its complexities, and finding surprising beauty in its processes. We use smells to communicate, to warn us of danger, to give us a sense of place, and as a form of social messaging - it is one of the primary ways in which a mother bonds to her kin, for example. But smell has other, less obvious uses: a sniff of peppermint can increase alertness and productivity, and introducing a slight whiff of fish oil into the environment will make people scrutinise information more closely. An investigation into the biology, psychology and history of smell, and a search for effective ways to describe things we instantly relate to, but find strangely ineffable, The Smell of Fresh Rain, includes a 200-entry thesaurus of succinct descriptions of common smells.