This book is a tribute to the free sense of smell in all its beauty and disgust.
Smell is linked to the dark, the erotic, the primitive—the opposite of modernity. When the senses fall out of balance, we risk hallucinations and begin to invent our lives. In a time when improvisation and the revelation of false information may be more important than ever, this becomes especially unsettling.
The book starts by exploring the significance of smell and its diversity, before taking us on an olfactory historical journey—from ancient cities and medieval plagues to the industrial revolution and today. Along the way, we discover twenty smells that continue to shape human life, from blood and flower meadows to money, farts, and garlic.
Bjørn Berge offers us yet another treasure trove of insight and reflection. The text sharpens your senses and makes you appreciate the endless variety the world has to offer, which powerful forces are recklessly striving to flatten, homogenize, and standardize.
Dagbladet
Although odours are everywhere and we perceive them constantly, we only have a very limited vocabulary to describe them. For this reason alone, it is absolutely necessary to bring a book about the sense of smell onto the market.
Martin Lindh, Publisher Haupt Verlag
Bjorn Berge offers a cornucopia of odours – the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet this book is bigger than a feast for the nose: Berge reflects on smell, with grace and wit, encouraging us to think about it deeply. Ultimately, Smell is about feelings, memories, and far more than simply a fading sense.
Vivian Constantinopoulos, Publisher at Reaction Books
Exuberantly cheerful and wise, packed with surprising facts.
Dagbladet, on Nowherelands
The story of this repression is told by the Norwegian architect and author Bjørn Berge in his remarkable book Smell – A History of Smelling. Berge begins with a quiet revolt: against the primacy of the visual, against the neglect of the atmospheric, against a world that confines itself to speaking and showing… And then one begins to wonder. That it is precisely two Norwegians—Bjørn Berge and Sissel Tolaas—who are reopening this olfactory world for us. Coincidence? Perhaps. Or a clue.
A clue that a different sensibility emerges from a country shaped by fog, moss, salt water, and snow. Norway is not only fjords and fish, but also: slowness. Vastness. Breath. Proximity to nature.
Perhaps it is precisely this world that gives rise to what the rest of Europe has unlearned: a philosophy of the atmospheric. An attentiveness to what does not shout, but endures.
Fairewirtschaft.de, Germany
A literary treasure trove on the subject of smell, exploring the sense of olfaction with a broad intellectual horizon.
Spektrum der Wissenschaft
The Norwegian nonfiction author Bjørn Berge has now explored the subject in detail and written about it in a highly entertaining way.”
KuNo-kulturnotizen.de, Germany
This entertaining journey through history traces smells through time, featuring earthy quotations from world literature and seasoned with the chemistry of twenty scents.”
Wissenschaft.de
A wonderful idea — we liked it.
Kulturexpresso, Germany
This invention is so good that one can turn yellow with envy: writing a book about a country that no longer exists. … Each country is devoted to just four pages, and on these are unrolled shocking world history, lyrical descriptions and subtle details … an exceptionally beautiful book.
Author Erika Fatland, for Aftenposten, on Nowherelands
We have already published two books written by Bjørn Berge. We love nonfiction that has a special uniqueness to it. Berge’s books are a guarantee for mind-blowing facts, presented with expertise in a refined writing style.
Publisher at Cser Kiadó, Hungary
…a literary treasure trove on the subject of smell, exploring the sense of olfaction with a broad intellectual horizon… We learn how safety, decay, bliss, fear and longing—or lust—can smell, and that even nothingness has a scent. At the same time, we embark on a journey through time: from the smells of ancient city foundations, through the odors of medieval plague epidemics, to the more or less pleasant fragrances of our present day. Literary quotations as well as further historical and everyday examples complement the discussion and ensure a varied presentation of the topic. Readers with an interest in chemistry are also well served, as the individual components of many familiar smells are broken down and explained.
Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Germany
…the wonderful work of nonfiction The World of Smells… The new release caught my eye in the shop window of a small neighborhood library when I had (once again—fortunately) lost my way… Although the cover and title initially put me off, I went inside on impulse and found a quiet seat by the window to read a few pages… Four good hours later, I had finished the entire book and would like to recommend it to you wholeheartedly.
Duftessas Blog, Parfumo.de, Germany
