Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Perfumes: The Guide
Book Review: A gift for perfume lovers
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a perfume lover, always on the lookout for new or old and forgotten scents; if you feel a special kinship to particular categories of scent; if you want to know more about what makes particular perfumes what they are - then this is the book for you. The writing is vivid, almost graphic. It will make you spend money, but you'll enjoy the discoveries!Book Review: A review of: Perfumes The Guide
Summary: 3 Stars
The first part is a 49 page commentary about fine fragrances. The authors discuss the peculiarities involved in writing about a subject as evanescent as fragrance. Then they comment on the feminine and masculine properties of fragrances.
The second part of the book is over 300 pages, and the authors review nearly 1500 different fragrances. The authors assume that the reader already has a lot of experience with fine fragrances. I don't yet know a lot about fine fragrances. I bought this book to learn more about perfumes, and this book was not very helpful. If I just wanted fragrance reviews, I could have just read online blogs. I have since found other books much more helpful in learning about fragrances, particularly The Scent Trail by Celia Lyttelton.
Book Review: Absolutely the best perfume guide
Summary: 5 Stars
This is, in my opinion, the absolutely best perfume guide. Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez review perfumes in a manner unlike any other. Their descriptions make use of all the senses to describe what is would otherwide be solely a very personal olfactory experience. They confirm what I have always suspected: that some very popular perfumes are overrated and that the "nose" should be educated much as the palate for tasting fine wines. Makes for quite enjoyable reading.Book Review: Fantastic read
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading an outstanding review in the New Yorker for this book, I went out and bought it, and have loved it. As that review says, it is a model for anyone who is interested in aesthetics, particularly talking about food and wine. It is a fantastic combination of art (whimsical, evocative, and funny descriptions) and science (describing the chemical families and compounds that make up perfumes). The authors provide a five star rating system for lots of perfumes, which makes for amusing reading (a friend who had just spent $100 on a perfume was shocked to hear it called "reminiscent of ham"), and has interested me in seeking out some of the five-star perfumes. This book also makes a great gift.Book Review: Fun, Funny - and Useful.... Check out the new edition!
Summary: 4 Stars
My father, who wore Old Spice when I was a kid but doesn't own a single bottle of perfume, sat down and read through this for a full hour, just picking out the 1-star reviews for amusement... It's also fun to see what two 'professional' perfume critics think of YOUR favorites! You'll find top sellers with bad ratings (e.g. Bright Crystal -1 star) and outstanding ratings (e.g., Cool Water - 5-stars). There's a surprise on every page. If you have a teenager interested in perfume or science, a book like this could be a nice gift - it gives some real-world context to chemistry.
I read "The Emperor of Scent", and it started my own perfume obsession. After reading "The Secret of Scent", and several perfume-themed blogs, I wanted to start a perfume collection. Of all the guides, when I saw Luca Turin co-authored this one, I chose it because I knew it would be informative. What I didn't expect is how laugh-out-loud funny many reviews would be! The authors smell each perfume (mens and womens fragrances are both technically perfumes) on a paper strip, and also on skin - several times - to provide a very thorough evaluation. The best thing about this book is that it gives just enough history and background to interest even the most casual reader, that will also help you figure out what you like about the perfumes you wear and help you find more to try. And I love that you find Old Spice, Vanilla Fields, Stetson, and other "dime-store" fragrances as well as historic 'greats' and 'artisan' scents... nothing is ignored.
[NOTE: There is a new edition in paperback. If you're new to perfume, or just curious, buy this. If you like it, please seek out the new edition - with another 400 perfumes, and a new format and indices, it makes the jump to 5-stars. There is also a website, where a dedicated reader created a spreadsheet and indexed all the perfumes and ratings.]