Odorama: Historia cultural del olor (Spanish Edition)

Since living requires breathing and breathing necessarily involves smelling, this book presents the first cultural history of odor. It compiles remarkable and little-known stories that connect humanity's past, present, and future through the olfactory dimension of our lives. The book explores questions such as how dinosaurs smelled, what aromas dominated ancient Egypt, how foul Paris, London, New York, and Buenos Aires were in the past, what astronauts smelled on the Moon, and what stars, galaxies, and black holes smell like. Aromas, perfumes, fragrances, and odors influence how we feel and what we think. Omnipresent, smells function as machines of time and space, transporting us to different moments and places in our lives. Yet odors are elusive: there are insufficient words in our vocabulary to fully describe what we smell, and no device can capture the olfactory fingerprint of an era. Often overlooked and undervalued, odors leave traces in chronicles, medical records, culinary documentation, hieroglyphics, and romantic letters. The planet's past and each person's history is inscribed in the memory of their odors.