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A sensuous, extravagant look at the bounty of trees, focusing primarily on the aromas and smells they contribute as a (perhaps under-recognized) sumptuous and multi-layered texture to our everyday world.
Written with the delicacy and grace of a poet, informed by the science and insight of the biologist he is, the author’s world, as evoked on these pages, is a breathtaking peek into the inner world of trees, the aromas used to communicate, (be it to connect or defend) roots and leaves to neighboring plants or from intruding wildlife, as we, the human interlopers, tag along for the olfactory ride.
As we learn, in reading this book, smell is a unique sense in that we are biologically hard-wired to experience scents, upon inhalation, as a direct, animalistic and primal connection, which is fed into our brain-based memory, emotional and experiential centers, bypassing initially any of the more rational areas of brain processing (which come a little later, allowing us to analyze or consider scents in a more fulsome manner).
As the author explains, this primal processing allows us to immediately feel deep sensations, and any associated memories from a smell in a way that can take us back to childhood (for example, the smell of horse chestnut “conkers”, beloved by children in a childhood game), a memory of our mothers kitchen (a bay leaf simmering in a long-cooking stew), or invoke an overwhelming and blissful calm (such as when inhaling the “honey and wild rose” scent of basswood blossoms).
With a diverse and moving collection of essays exploring tree-based scents, the authors musings range from:
-The aromatic bark of the Ponderosa Pine;
-The heavenly extrusion that is Mediterranean olive oil;
-The bracing snap of a perfectly mixed gin-and-tonic
-The prehistoric lure and modern-day danger of woodsmoke;
-The joy of “breathing in the world” of a pulp-and paper based book (particularly an old one);
-The warm, sweet or spicy notes in the signature of an oak-casked fine whiskey.
For this reader, the literary journey travelled invoked a purity and a pleasure that was simply magical – a celebration of the wonder that is a tree, (any tree, yet here we visit with some of the most charming, up-close-and-personal) – allowing us to explore our mysterious and thrilling nasal connection to the intoxicating abundance of wood-leaf-and-blossom scents revealed.
My stop today on the @randomttours #blogtour for #thirteenwaystosmellatree.
A great big thank you to the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
@davidgeorgehaskell
@octopus_books
