my mind on books

The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell is a book I probably would not have thought to read, except that I saw it on the library’s new book shelves. “Full of fascinating facts,” as one of the back-cover blurbs states, this is a good popular survey of the science and psychology of the sense of smell. Author Rachel Herz clearly has a passionate interest in her subject that is well conveyed through her writing.
Among the things I learned:

• There is an interconnection between emotion and the sense of smell – Herz suggests that in humans the emotions evolved out of the olfactory system.
• Memories triggered by scents are not necessarily more accurate than other memories, but they tend to be more emotionally intense.
• Women are attracted to the scent of men who are most dissimilar to them in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, enabling them to select mates that strengthen the immune systems of their offspring. This preference is altered by taking birth control pills, however, raising the possibility that women who marry while on the pill may have difficulties later when they decide to have children.
• Aroma preferences and aversions appear to be learned; no odors have been found to be universally disliked across all cultures.
• It is difficult to change the response to a scent once an initial association has been made.
• Dogs have been trained to find whale scat to aid in research on the marine mammals’ population decline.