A review by nikkideeley
Smell Detectives: An Olfactory History of Nineteenth-Century Urban America by Melanie A. Kiechle

informative slow-paced

3.0

Book 27 of 2024: Smell Detectives - Melanie A. Kiechle 

Smell Detectives explores the way 19th Century Americans identified sanitary challenges, caused by the rapid industrial and urban growth of the period, through their sense of smell. 

Review:

⭐️ 3/5

An interesting read and clearly very well researched and understood by the author. It was fascinating to see how people had understandings of the impacts of smells and germs before the science was established. It appears there was a lot of common sense in the 19th century! It was very interesting to hear how smell guided the design of cities such as New York - definitely something I’d never know before this book. I also appreciated women being represented in the book as they are often overlooked in history (especially scientific history). The book did read more like a dissertation than a non-fiction book which did make the experience a little drier than expected - even with a scientific background, it felt more like reading a thesis than a book. 

Challenges:

📚Books in 2024: 27/60

📚52 Book Club Challenge: 13/52

📚Prompt #2 of the 52 Book Club Challenge:   Bibliosmia: A Smelly Book

Book Information:

📖 Pages: 352

📖 Format: Audiobook 

📖 Type: Non-Fiction 

📖 Genre: Science, History

Favourite Quotes:

“Stoves - the favourite poison of America”

“If you smell something, say something”