Hello everyone and welcome to the Putrid and Divine Book Club! Thanks for joining us in this weird little corner of the internet. Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Nuri McBride I am an apprentice perfumer, writer and researcher that is interested in how olfaction plays a role in human culture, particularly in significant lifecycle moments like birth and death. I write about olfaction and death practices over at deathscent.com and about women in death care for deadmaidens.com. I'm also launching a podcast with my husband on the history of beauty culture which should (hopefully) be up next month and co-editing a new journal called Death in the Borderlands which will begin publication this summer.
On top of that, I am finishing up four years of a traditional perfumers' apprenticeship. I'm so interested in what drew you to the club and how we can customise the experience to this group. So feel free to introduce yourselves and share any book suggestions for our alternative reads or future months.
We will officially be kicking things off in February with our first book A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. Feel free to start reading at any time and leave questions or comments here. I'll be adding some weekly food for thought questions about the title and will pop in any relevant extra materials I've found for you guys. I'm also happy to do a monthly discussion session via Zoom if folks are interested.
I chose A Natural History of the Senses because it is an excellent start to exploring what it means to receive information about our world through our physical senses and how little we pay attention to the process, especially for scent. This book should be reasonably easy to find both in physical and e-book versions as well as library copies. I don't believe there is an audiobook version, however. Some of the books on our list are a little hard to find, and in those cases, I will point you towards easy to access copies, or I'll scan sections and send to the group.
If you have read A Natural History or would like an alternative title for the month, I would suggest The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell by Rachel Herz. There are some points in this book that I disagree with the science she is using, but it is easy to find and fun olfactive read. Or for a bit harder book to get ahold that is a bit drier and academic, let me suggest, Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell by Lyall Watson.
If you have any questions feel free to leave them here or you can email me at livegirl@deathscent.com
On top of that, I am finishing up four years of a traditional perfumers' apprenticeship. I'm so interested in what drew you to the club and how we can customise the experience to this group. So feel free to introduce yourselves and share any book suggestions for our alternative reads or future months.
We will officially be kicking things off in February with our first book A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. Feel free to start reading at any time and leave questions or comments here. I'll be adding some weekly food for thought questions about the title and will pop in any relevant extra materials I've found for you guys. I'm also happy to do a monthly discussion session via Zoom if folks are interested.
I chose A Natural History of the Senses because it is an excellent start to exploring what it means to receive information about our world through our physical senses and how little we pay attention to the process, especially for scent. This book should be reasonably easy to find both in physical and e-book versions as well as library copies. I don't believe there is an audiobook version, however. Some of the books on our list are a little hard to find, and in those cases, I will point you towards easy to access copies, or I'll scan sections and send to the group.
If you have read A Natural History or would like an alternative title for the month, I would suggest The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell by Rachel Herz. There are some points in this book that I disagree with the science she is using, but it is easy to find and fun olfactive read. Or for a bit harder book to get ahold that is a bit drier and academic, let me suggest, Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell by Lyall Watson.
If you have any questions feel free to leave them here or you can email me at livegirl@deathscent.com
Happy Reading!!!
Nuri