March 12, 2010
Holly Leber at the Chattanooga Times Free Press wonders why men smell the way they do and why women like it (or don't). Avery Gilbert gives her some insight.
February 27, 2010
Toronto Star Feature writer Nancy J. White uses the recent "smell of virtue" study to explore the effects of smell on behavior and cognition. She quotes one of the study's authors as well as Northwestern University neuroscientist Jay Gottfried and What the Nose Knows author Avery Gilbert.
February 22, 2010
AudioFile Magazine gives reader Jeff Woodman's narration of What the Nose Knows a positive review. The audiobook version from Audible, Inc. is available here.
February 14, 2010
Writer Courtney Humphries takes a look at new research into how smells affect us. She finds that the traditional emphasis on mood and emotion is giving way to explanations that involve cognition. For her piece in The Boston Globe she interviews Avery Gilbert about the down-grading of the idea of the "raging reptilian brain".
January 24, 2010
In an article on scent marketing in India, Financial Express reporter Kiran Yadav quotes Avery Gilbert on recent examples of companies using scent to speak to consumers.
December 12, 2009
Editor Stephan Hilpold at the Austrian newspaper Der Standard interviews Avery Gilbert about the sense of smell.
November 9, 2009
Author, blogger and all-around 'fume head Katie Puckrik interviews Avery Gilbert on a variety of smelly topics in this ten-minute video on her popular YouTube channel called "Katie Puckrik Smells".
November 7, 2009
Connecticut Public Radio host Faith Middleton interviews Avery Gilbert about his book and the science of smell. You can listen here.
August 15, 2009
Avery Gilbert makes another appearance in Beauty Fashion with an essay called "Who Speaks for Perfume?" It appears in the July issue of the leading professional journal for cosmetics and fragrance. Download the essay here.
June 25, 2009
The judges for the 2009 Science Book Prize given by the Royal Society of London have selected What the Nose Knows as one of six titles on their short list of finalists. The winner of the prize will be announced on September 15 and receive £10,000.
May 30, 2009
Suds expert Jack Kenny writes The Beer Column for the Connecticut Beverage Journal. In the June issue he reviews What the Nose Knows from the point of view of someone in the beer, wine, and spirits business. The sections on complex odors, the psychology of sniffing, and the dubious value of palate cleansers are among those that appeal to him. His conclusion: it's "a book that anyone who uses their nose for business or pleasure should have in his or her library."
May 26, 2009
The Royal Society of London announced the nominees for its 2009 Science Book Prize. What the Nose Knows is one of the thirteen titles that made the list. The thirteen nominees will be whittled down to a short list of finalists on June 25. Short-listed authors receive £1,000.
April 22, 2009
"Avery Gilbert is the David Sedaris of the nostril, the Mark Twain of the nasal passages." That's the opinion of Alan R. Hirsch, MD, who reviews What the Nose Knows in this week's edition of JAMA--the Journal of the American Medical Association. You can read his entire review here.
April 15, 2009
Kristin Tillotson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune interviews Avery Gilbert in advance of his talk this coming Saturday evening at the Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus. Find out what he really thinks about the smell of horse manure. (Event details here.)
March 28, 2009
Writer Steven Mintz interviews Avery Gilbert about odor perception and the smellscapes of New Jersey in the just-released April issue of New Jersey Monthly.
March 3, 2009
Finalists for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced. Avery Gilbert's What the Nose Knows has been nominated for the Science & Technology prize. Winners will be revealed in a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 24th, followed on the 25th and 26th by the 14th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, on the UCLA campus.
February 16, 2009
WNYC radio host Leonard Lopate interviews Avery Gilbert about the science of smell. The twenty-minute segment can be heard right here.
February 13, 2009
Charmaine Chan writes about how companies are using signature smells in a bid to win customers. She interviews scent branding maven Simon Faure-Field and smell scientist Avery Gilbert. The story appears on the South China Morning Post website (registration required).
February 9, 2009
Fran McManusinterviewed sensory experts from around the Garden State, including Avery Gilbert, for the Winter issue of Edible New Jersey. Her article about learning to sharpen one's palate can now be downloaded here in its entirety.
February 2, 2009
Attention teens and librarians! Francisca Goldsmith, writing in the School Library Journal, recommends WTNK as a "perfect choice for teens interested in science." Why? Because the author is "a marvelous storyteller" who "leads readers from tales that amaze to facts that amuse, interspersing opportunities for unabashed wonder."
And also because "The author's prose is flawless . . ."
February 1, 2009
Dr. Craig Warren, The Sense of Smell Institute's Scientific Affairs Director, reviews WTNK in the Winter 2009 issue of Fragrance Forum. Download a copy here.
January 26, 2009
Anchorage Public radio host Dr. Thad Woodward interviews Avery Gilbert on his show Line One - Your Health Connection. They talk about the biology and psychology of smell and take calls and emails from listeners. You can download the MP3 audio here.
January 24, 2009
This week's issue of New Scientist features Ten sci-fi devices that could soon be in your hands. Coming in at number ten is smell-o-vision: "imagine the impact of TV and video games if scenes were accompanied by their aromas." Writer Bijal Trivedi quotes Avery Gilbert on the possibility.
January 9, 2009
Beth Case at The Wine School reviews WTNK. She finds it "delightful and enlightening" and "full of surprising facts." Case says, "Gilbert’s pursuit of olfaction is science writing at its best as it does not read 'sciencey.'" She calls the author a "true connoisseur of the senses" who has "written a book rich in curiosity that is as beguiling as it is educating."
January 1, 2009
Andrew McKeever of the Manchester Journal interviews Avery Gilbert about his upcoming "First Wednesdays" lecture in Manchester, Vermont.
Avery Gilbert lends some multisensory advice to Cosmopolitan magazine for "The Cosmo Couple Quiz," which explores each partner's dominant sense.
December 15, 2008
Fran McManus writes about learning to sharpen one's palate in "A Sense of Taste," which appears in the Winter 2008, issue of Edible Jersey. She interviews sensory experts from all around the Garden State, including Avery Gilbert. UPDATE: Download the entire article here.
December 5, 2008
Avery Gilbert's essay "Psychology and the Appreciation of Perfume" appears in the December issue of Beauty Fashion, the professional journal of the cosmetic and fragrance industry. Download the essay here.
November 22, 2008
Deidre Woollard at Luxist read WTNK and found it "fascinating."
October 18, 2008
This week's issue of the online Sniffapalooza Magazine features editor-in-chief Raphaella Brescia Barkley's interview with Avery Gilbert. They cover a lot of territory, from Gilbert's experiences at Givaudan-Roure Fragrances to what inspired him to write What the Nose Knows.
The issue also includes a review of WTNK by Kathy Patterson. She says, "I strongly recommend this entertaining read to all of my fellow scent-o-philes."
October 15, 2008
Debbie Alan, host of the internet radio program On the Home Stretch, interviews Avery Gilbert about lots of smell topics from WTNK. You can listen to it right here:
Over at the Perfume is Pleasure blog, fragrance maven Laura Donna posts about scent marketing and singles out the "Mall Zombies" chapter from WTNK. Her overall take on the book: it's "chock-full of cultural, psychological, and smell-ogical insights conveyed in zesty, flowing prose." She finds the style "erudite yet warm and friendly."
October 12, 2008
The Perfume Shrine blog reviews WTNK and notes its take-down of Marcel Proust as the iconic bard of smell memory: "you [will] never see Marcel Proust with the same eye again and if you have sat through Swann's Way into your literary pilgrimage with the inward impatient questioning 'where are those promised odour landscapes?', it will provide welcome vindication."
The New York Times Book Review features WTNK and posts the entire first chapter online.
October 10, 2008
Morning news anchor Maggie Rodriguez takes a sniff test and interviews Avery Gilbert about smell on the CBS Early Show. Watch the video clip right here (it follows an ad):
October 8, 2008
Joseph Wilson, writing in NOW Toronto, reviews WTNK. He says "In page after page of sensual descriptions, Gilbert imparts to the reader his passion for the world of smell."
October 5, 2008
Perfume blogger JaimeB offers another take on WTNK in his post on "What makes a trained nose?" at basenotes.net.
September 8, 2008
Avery Gilbert is now blogging! Catch his commentary on the science and culture of smell at FirstNerve.com. Why's it called First Nerve? Read the first post to find out.
August 20, 2008
During the entire second hour of the Radio Times show, WHYY-FM host Marty Moss-Coane interviews Avery Gilbert about WTNK and they take calls from listeners with all kinds of stinky stories and nosey questions. To hear the show for free via Real Audio click here for the Radio Times Archive.
August 16, 2008
Perfume blogger Marcello A. reviews WTNK at Now Smell This.
August 14, 2008
Gary Beauchamp, director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, reviews WTNK in this week's issue of the journal Nature.
August 10, 2008
Reporter William Loeffler interviews Avery Gilbert about WTNK and related topics in an article for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
August 8, 2008
Professor Stuart Firestein of Columbia University reviews WTNK in the new issue of the journal Science. He calls it an "enticing history of the uses and misuses of scent" that "offers a great deal of fun as well." The review appears in the August 8 issue (volume 321, page 774) and can be found online here (registration required).
August 2, 2008
Chef and radio host Jim Coleman interviews Avery Gilbert about the role of smell in flavor, food, and wine. Among the topics they cover: how to sniff , the sociobiology of cooking, and the key traits of olfactory imagination. The show aired on the WHYY-FM show A Chef's Table. Find the podcast free here. (Gilbert appears at the beginning and again at 38:00 into the show.)
August 1, 2008
Alana Range from the New York Academy of Sciences interviews Avery Gilbert for a Science & the City podcast about WTNK and the psychology of odor perception. You can listen to the interview here or get it for free on iTunes.
July 27, 2008
New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan interviews smell scientist Avery Gilbert about an offensive and hard to locate smell in an article titled "Mystery of the South St. Stinkport."
Ron Kirbyson reviews WTNK in the Winnipeg Free Press. He says it is written with "a lively sense of humour" and "a lively style."
July 16, 2008
Former anosmic Mick O'Hare reviews WTNK for New Scientist. He finds the book to be "remarkably entertaining, and a great read for anyone seeking a tour that awakens the senses." O'Hare says "it is hard to resist the sheer pleasure of reading the factoids packed into this book."
July 13, 2008
Hosts David Alpern and Kathryn Herzog interview Avery Gilbert about the science of odor perception for the Newsweek on Air radio program. You can listen here or download the podcast free from iTunes (interview begins at 35:45).
July 12, 2008
Anne Underwood, writing in Newsweek, calls WTNK a "an entertaining romp through the science of smell."
July 6, 2008
Reviewing WTNK in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, critic Fred Bortz says "the book has sensibilities to suit almost any reader's taste."
July 3, 2008
Perfumer Laurie Erickson of Sonoma Scent Studio interviews Avery Gilbert about his research into olfactory synaesthesia--the phenomenon in which smells are associated with specific colors and sounds. You can read the interview on her blog Perfume in Progress.
July 2, 2008
Peter Dykstra at CNN's SciTech Blog recommends WTNK for summer reading, calling it "a great book on an overlooked topic." He also says that author Avery Gilbert "combines a scientist’s sense of wonder" with "a scent-making professional’s sensibility, and a slightly Beavis + Butt-Head-like fascination with aroma."
At The Globe and Mail, columnist Michael Kesterton shares Jennifer Fisher Wilson's fascination with the story of scented butterflies told in WTNK. He writes about it in his Social Studies column.
July 1, 2008
Jane Bosveld highlights parts of WTNK in the July issue of Discover magazine on page 72.
Contributing editor Brooke Le Pore Trench interviews WTNK author Avery Gilbert and other experts about "What Is Sexy?" in the July issue of Allure magazine on page 114.
June 30, 2008
The New York Observer's reviewer Adam Begley calls WTNK "smart, eminently readable" and "a lighthearted book, packed with curious tidbits."
June 27, 2008
photo by Annette Heist
Author Avery Gilbert and NPR Science Friday guest host Joe Palca discuss the science of smell and take calls from listeners. Listen to or download a podcast of the program here.
June 23, 2008
"Smell Ya Later? Not if that smell goes extinct." Jennifer Fisher Wilson, the science reporter for Annals of Internal Medicine, reviews WTNK at The Smart Set.
June 23, 2008
Fragrance blogger Lucy Raubertas reviews WTNK on her blog Indieperfumes.
June 11, 2008
Anya McCoy, artisan perfumer and president of the Natural Perfumers Guild, reviews WTNK at basenotes.net.
