An NRC Handelsblad Book of the Year

“Offers rich discussions of olfactory perception, the conscious and subconscious impacts of smell on behavior and emotion.”
—Science

Decades of cognition research have shown that external stimuli “spark” neural patterns in particular regions of the brain. We think of the brain as a space we can map: here it responds to faces, there it perceives a sensation. But the sense of smell—only recently attracting broader attention in neuroscience—doesn’t work this way. So what does the nose tell the brain, and how does the brain understand it?

A. S. Barwich turned to experts in neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, and perfumery in an effort to understand the mechanics and meaning of odors. She discovered that scents are often fickle, and do not line up with well-defined neural regions. Upending existing theories of perception, Smellosophy offers a new model for understanding how the brain senses and processes odors.

“A beguiling analysis of olfactory experience that is fast becoming a core reference work in the field.”
—Irish Times

“Lively, authoritative…Aims to rehabilitate smell’s neglected and marginalized status.”
—Wall Street Journal

“This is a special book…It teaches readers a lot about olfaction. It teaches us even more about what philosophy can be.”
—Times Literary Supplement

"This is a special book…Barwich does philosophy that is empirically directed and historically informed. It teaches readers a lot about olfaction. It teaches us even more about what philosophy can be." - Times Literary Supplement

"Seeks to banish entrenched prejudice against the nose. Barwich…argues that we could discover far more about consciousness if we would only relinquish our old-school fixation on sight…Rather than mapping the external world and constructing an accurate representation of it in the brain, our sense of smell seems to involve a continuous, ever-shifting negotiation between our interior and exterior lives." - Harper’s

"Lively, authoritative…Aims to rehabilitate smell’s neglected and marginalized status." - Wall Street Journal

"Barwich writes with charm and precision about our preconceptions of how the olfactory system works and how it is different from the other sensory mechanisms that keep us alive and (relatively) safe…An illuminating discussion of the interface between the logical coherence of philosophy and the empirical disciplines of science." - The Spectator

"Barwich melds a philosophical perspective with a rich history of olfactory science, tackling big questions with layers of perceptual, psychological, and neurobiological explanations…She offers rich discussions of olfactory perception, the conscious and subconscious impacts of smell on behavior and emotion, and the physical and behavioral details that determine what odors we inhale, furnishing broad insights into the psychology of olfaction." - Science

"A beguiling analysis of olfactory experience that is fast becoming a core reference work in the field." - Irish Times

"Barwich takes us deeper into the human stories, key advances, and dead ends of olfaction science, interspersed with philosophical theory…A timely dispatch from the research trenches, surveying a field in flux." - Issues in Science and Technology

"An impressive work…Undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive and accessible studies of olfaction…Barwich brilliantly dovetails psychology with neurophysiology, detailing how olfaction operates by markedly distinct principles of neural representation in comparison with vision, audition, and somatosensation." - Perception

"Barwich guides the reader into the fascinating science (both historical and contemporary) of odors and olfaction." - The Philosophers’ Magazine

"Fabulous…[A] serious work that [has] brought me a great deal of pleasure." - Daily Telegraph

"Makes a strong case for rethinking the scientific study of odor perception…Smellosophy works to shape olfaction studies—and neuroscience writ large." - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

"Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people temporarily lost their ability to detect smell (and the closely connected sense of taste), this book’s topic is an impetus for important scientific exploration…Smellosophy makes a strong case for rethinking the scientific study of odor perception." - American Biology Teacher