Human olfaction - the sense of smell - enables us to appreciate food and drink it warns us of
dangers and it makes our environments more enjoyable. However olfaction is one of our least
explored sensory systems. Until now. Smells and scents are the colour that enrich our
experience of life. Ask anyone to reflect on their sense of smell and they immediately start
talking. First there are discussions about food and wine but pretty quickly they move on to
personal topics: about the smells that evoke memories of childhood dead relatives pregnancy
love and sex. When people talk about their sense of smell they also tell us something about
themselves their feelings thoughts and relationships. Thus the sense of smell not only
reflects the chemical world outside us but also bears witness to our inner world our feelings
and thoughts. The Forgotten Sense explores the unknown mind and how it shapes people: Why can
smells evoke such strong memories? How much can body odors control who you fall in love with?
How sensitive is the human sense of smell? In many ways these questions are on the very
forefront of our understanding but Dr Jonas Olofsson has spent years studying the least
understood of our senses. And he has discovered that it is actually possible to improve and
refine one's sense of smell to develop it into a more useful tool to bring a powerful
immediacy to your life.
