luca turin

as usual when i have a new obsession, i do a huge amount of skim-reading to learn things about a field by osmosis. wondering how smell actually works, i came across the name of luca turin who appears to be a maverick biophysicist with the controversial idea that our nose determines smell not by the shape of molecules, but by the vibrations of their electron bonds (if i got this right; i haven't yet read his first-hand writings on this). apparently mr turin is also a "nose" in the world of perfumery, whose nose is very good at detecting whatever it is that noses detect, be it shape or vibration. he can also write, he's witty, and he has a blog, which i think those of you who love writing up BPAL reviews might enjoy:

It [Rive Gauche Pour Homme] is strikingly refined and understated in a field populated by loud and exuberantly hairy-chested fragrances.

Like an old roué who is cantankerous in the morning, fantastic over lunch and then needs a siesta, Cocktail delivers five minutes of damaged topnotes, ten minutes of classic green-chypre beauty before settling down to a creamy marron-glacé base of labdanum very much in the generic Patou style.

I almost liked Eau Bleue for its boldness anyway, but what decided me against it was my daughter spraying the couch with it in a failed bid to empty the bottle. Three days later, it reminds me of the story of the family in Kirkuk who was visited by Saddam Hussein in his heyday, and who cremated the sofa after he left to be rid of the smell of his aftershave.

it's syndicated as luca_turin. mr turin seems to be a fascinating guy. some of his life is told by chandler burr in the emperor of scent: a story of obsession, perfume, and the last mystery of the senses, which sounds like a rolicking read. he himself has a book coming out next year, in which he explains his theory for the layperson: The Secret of Scent, ISBN 0571215378.