Sniff

Thanks to the notoriously slow post in Lichfield – it's so bad that questions have been asked in the House – I've only just received my copy of November's Literary Review. In it, I review a rather wonderful book on smell – Sniff by William Tullett. (The below might differ slightly from the printed version.) 'Smell is the most undervalued of our senses, the one that (according to surveys) most people would jettison if they had to lose a sense. We use our noses less and less, and when we do use them we encounter a confusing olfactory world, ‘a world of simulacra in which anything can smell like anything else’, as William Tullett puts it. And yet, smells – especially remembered smells from our past – still possess real emotional potency. ‘A familiar smell can catapult us back in time’ – just ask Monsieur Proust. Tullett’s fascinating book, written in short, lively chapters packed with fact and insight, ranges far and wide across the world of smells, past and present, pleasant and…

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