Perfume: The Art and Science of Scent

by Cathy Newman

Covers every aspect of creating and marketing perfume, from the flower fields in various countries to department stores in Paris and New York

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Catherine Elizabeth Newman is an English journalist and presenter of Channel 4 News.

Newman began her career as a newspaper journalist, and had spells at Media Week, The Independent, the Financial Times and The Washington Post. She has worked on Channel 4 News since 2006, initially as a correspondent and, since 2011, as a presenter.

Newman was long-listed for the Orwell Prize (Journalism) in 2010 and again in 2011 for the blog prize. She was announced as one of the judges for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2015. Her book, Bloody Brilliant Women, concerning significant, but unheralded, 20th-century women, is due for publication in autumn 2018.

Reviews

[lisa_emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book grew out of a National Geographic article, and it read like an an extended one. It has breezy, informative style, the chapters are good size chunks which allow you to inhale an aspect of the perfume business and history. it covers alot of ground from Coco Chanel 5 to the flowers fields of Grasse, to the fashion industry-business hoopla of it all. Beautiful huge photos accompany the writing.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visually arresting and well-researched, as you would expect from a National Geographic publication. The structure could have been improved a bit, but on the whole it's a vivid look at the creation of fragrance, from the fields of France to the marketing of Madison Avenue.

[Saatwik Katiha · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, a few reasons why I'd cut this book some slack - (1) a coffee table book can be forgiven some compromise with the narrative integrity of the text (2) It's 23 years old (3) it's probably aimed at a casual fragrance enthusiast and not a well-informed high-speed-internet era "fraghead" who can nitpick brutally.

Pros - pretty pictures, fascinating anecdotes, interesting insights from lots of industry people, the passion of olfactory art is described in a non-pretentious way (the last two lines of the book sum this up very well).

Cons - inaccuracies - prime example: a book about fragrance CANNOT afford to spell "sandalwood" incorrectly; narration is jumpy - the author often digresses to unrelated topics for a few paragraphs before returning; some info is outdated to the point of becoming incorrect (e.g. copying of fragrances using GC/MS is a very real concern today, unlike what the book asserts).

At any rate, there's enough good stuff here to deserve 3 stars.

[Madison Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and informative book on many aspects of the perfume industry. It was a nice summer read.

[Dannielle Norwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like the BEST National Geographic book ever! I learned so much about perfume like why Coco Chanel's Number 5 is so expensive... because French jasmine sells for $12,000 a pound. There is only one French Jasmine field left and if that field gets industrialized or turned into a parking lot, the scent of French Jasmine will disappear from the face of the earth forever.

Roses are so delicate and must be picked in the early morning They must be picked in early morning when their scent is most powerful, before the sun has opened their petals. They must be distilled within 12 hours in a copper vat by passing hot steam over them. It takes 5,000 pounds of rose petals to produce one pound of rose oil making rose one of the most costly essential oils and literally worth more than its weight in gold.

The most intriguing and memorable chapter is the one in which we follow the author on a journey to the Costa Rican rain forest in search of new scents. I learned that the scent of an ant when smashed smells like spicy mint. They have a machine called a headspace which captures the fragrance molecules which can be recreated synthetically in a lab. This scent of crushed ant shows up in Michael Jordan's cologne!

[LOVEROFBOOKS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Photos are beautiful and the writing is wonderful!

I honestly didn't think I'd be reading the entire text of this book but just a general going-over and a look at all the gorgeous photos, but she really pulled me in with her writing! She is so descriptive and I loved the stories she told of the people she met who shared their stories with her about how much the scent of a loved one has impacted them still today.

I learned so much about perfume and the industry, and the key words people use in the industry (and perfume hobbyists!) as well as what all the different types like animalic, chypres, florals, orientals, etc...are.

I picked this up from the library but this is worth buying for me.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, with the usual glorious photography one expects from National Geographic

[Stven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine oversized book from National Geographic with the beautiful photography one expects plus informative text. A thoughtful high-quality production.