Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of SmellFrom the #1 bestselling author of Inside of a Dog—“an incredible journey into the olfactory world of man’s best friend” (O, The Oprah Magazine), Alexandra Horowitz’s follow-up to her New York Times bestseller explains how dogs experience the world through their most spectacular organ—the nose. In her “fascinating book…Horowitz combines the expertise of a scientist with an easy, lively writing style” (The New York Times Book Review) as she imagines what it is like to be a dog. Guided by her own dogs, Finnegan and Upton, Horowitz sets off on a quest through the cutting-edge science behind the olfactory abilities of the dog. In addition to speaking to cognitive researchers and smell experts, Horowitz visits detection-dog trainers and training centers; she meets researchers working with dogs to detect cancerous cells and anticipate epileptic seizure or diabetic shock; and she even attempts to smell-train her own nose. As we come to understand how rich, complex, and exciting the world around us is to the canine nose, Horowitz changes our perspective on dogs forever. Readers will finish this book feeling that they have broken free of their human constraints and understanding smell as never before; that they have, for however fleetingly, been a dog. And, as The Boston Globe says about Being a Dog, “becoming more doglike, not surprisingly, can make anyone’s life a little more vivid.” |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - LudieGrace - LibraryThingAs I think others have noted, I wanted this book to be more about, well, being a dog. The parts about the anatomy behind canine olfactory abilities and working dogs were really interesting; I started ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - gbelik - LibraryThingThis book had an interesting take on a dog's sense of smell. Instead of just talking about smell in terms of the dog, the author tries in various ways to test and develop her own nose. Very interesting. Read full review
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
Sniffing the Wind | 33 |
Walking While Smelling | 61 |
Plain as the Nose on Your Face | 79 |
My Dog Made Me Smell It | 101 |
Nose to Grindstone | 129 |
Nosewise | 157 |
Stinkwaves | 183 |
Civet Cats and Wet Dogs | 219 |
Nosed Out | 255 |
Smelloftheworld | 269 |
Notes and Sources | 275 |
| 305 | |
| 307 | |
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Common terms and phrases
alert anal sacs androstenone animal Asian elephant ball bark behavior body bottle brain breath Buechsenstein bush dog called cancer cells Center Charney Chemical detection dogs disease dog’s nose door Dougherty exhale experience eyes face Finn Finn’s Finnegan Firestein forest fragrance glands hair hand handlers head hide human nose inside Kaynaroglu leash Lolo look mark Matts McGee molecules mouth nasal nosework nostrils notice odor olfaction olfactory olfactory bulb olfactory epithelium olfactory receptors olfactory system one’s owner PApa Bear perfume person pheromones Play-Doh porcupine Preti pull puppies receptors red fox sample says scat scent sense of smell sensory simply smell smellers sniffing snout spotted hyena taste tell there’s thing tion trackers tracking tracking dogs trail trainers tree trigeminal nerve truffle turn urine Vosshall walk Wasser watch wine
Bibliographic information
| Title | Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell |
| Author | Alexandra Horowitz |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster, 2016 |
| ISBN | 1476796041, 9781476796048 |
| Length | 336 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Pets / Dogs / General Psychology / Cognitive Psychology & Cognition Science / Life Sciences / Zoology / Entomology |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |