Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell

Description

Being a Dog:  Following the Dog into a World of Smell

by Alexandra Horowitz

ISBN:  9781476796024

Publisher:  Scribner

Publication Year:  2016

Format:  Trade Paperback

Pages:  328

From the back cover:

“Named a Best Science Book of the Year by Science Friday, Forbes, and Library Journal

To a dog, there is no such thing as ‘fresh air.’ In Being a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz, a leading researcher in dog cognition, unpacks the mystery of a dog’s nose-view, in order to more fully understand our irrepressibly charming canine companions. She follows the dog’s nose – exploring not only its abilities but the incredible ways it is being put to use.

But the mysteries of the nose are not restricted to the dog alone. She also delves into the abilities of expert human sniffers – from perfumers to sommeliers to animal trackers who use smell to search out their quarry. She attempts to train her nose, smelling the streets of New York City and using the experts’ methods to hone the human ability we all have but rarely use to its full extent.

Readers will finish this charming and informative book feeling that they have smelled into a fourth dimension, literally broken free of human constraints and understood smell as never before; that they have, however fleetingly, been a dog.

‘Fascinating…Horowitz combines the expertise of a scientist with an easy, lively writing style.’ – The New York Times Book Review

‘Spellbinding…This book will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.’ – Forbes

‘Becoming more doglike, not surprisingly, can make anyone’s life a little more vivid.’ – The Boston Globe