The Emperor of Scent

The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession is journalist Chandler Burr's narrative account of biophysicist Luca Turin's fight to establish a vibration theory of olfaction - the idea that molecules smell the way they do because of how they vibrate, not simply because of their shape. Burr, previously the author of A Separate Creation and a contributor to the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, spent four years reporting the book, published by Random House in January 2003.

The book centres on Turin's clash with the scientific establishment, most pointedly the journal Nature's rejection of his theory, which Burr dissects at length, framing the referees' objections as a mix of 'stung egos and vested interests'. Kirkus Reviews called it 'the music of science, as irresistible as Vetiver or Rive Gauche', praising Burr's ability to render molecular biology and neuroscience with 'grace...and a steady tincture of bright humor'.

Read alongside Turin's own books - The Secret of Scent and, five years later, Perfumes: The Guide (co-written with Tania Sanchez) - this functions as an origin story for one of perfume criticism's most influential and polarising figures. It requires no background in chemistry, but it is worth being clear-eyed that it presents Turin's side of a genuine, still-unresolved scientific dispute: the vibration theory remains a minority position relative to the dominant shape-based theory of smell among olfaction researchers, and the book does not attempt a neutral, both-sides account of that debate.