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Elixir : A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life by Theresa Levitt (2023, Hardcover)
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In 1830s Paris, two outcast chemists chased the scent of immortality—and changed science forever. Theresa Levitt takes readers into the romantic world of Bohemian Paris, where salons, scientific salons, and scent labs collide.
- Buy It NowElixir: A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherHarvard University Press
ISBN-100674250893
ISBN-139780674250895
eBay Product ID (ePID)12057241351
Product Key Features
Number of Pages320 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication NameElixir : a Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life
SubjectEurope / France, History, Chemistry / Industrial & Technical, Chemistry / General
Publication Year2023
TypeTextbook
AuthorTheresa Levitt
Subject AreaScience, History
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.2 in
Item Weight18 Oz
Item Length8.5 in
Item Width5.7 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceCollege Audience
LCCN2022-031709
Reviews'Here is where the story begins,' promises Levitt at the end of her prologue, and though it's only page four, already we're hooked. Who knew that the history of perfume would incorporate not only alchemy, botany, and fermentation, but intrigue, secrets, and scandal? This thoroughly researched tale is also thoroughly gripping and thoroughly readable. Elixir is a fabulous accomplishment., [A] fascinating account of the birth pangs of organic chemistry in 19th-century Paris...[Levitt] has caught well these dreaming, competitive, daring men in the act of living, each striving compulsively for the giddy, intoxicating bliss of insight into the making of the world., Pulling from historical publications and personal writings, Theresa Levitt vividly explains why perfume--bathed in, lathered on and orally consumed--had a chokehold on Parisian life., As Paris was rocked by waves of revolutionary zeal, and lines blurred between cosmetics and medicines, two ambitious young chemists raced to investigate whether there was something special--even unique--about matter that comes from living things. A riveting read!, Almost impossible to put down...Written with the propulsive flow of a novel, [ Elixir ] unfolds in two interconnected but sequential stories, each following a scientific hero...A whirlwind tour from the point of view of pomades, perfumes, and eau de cologne., Pulling from historical publications and personal writings, Theresa Levitt vividly explains why perfume--bathed in, lathered on, and orally consumed--had a chokehold on Parisian life., [ Elixir ] vividly evokes cultural life in Bohemian Paris, the turbulence of the French Revolution and its aftermath, and the feuds that plagued rival scientists...Levitt's social history, especially of perfume, is fascinating., If you read this book you will be changed. For those of us who make a living assembling words to describe smells, this book feels like an actual elixir. Absolutely stunning., A robust package of information written by a historian comfortable inhabiting the past but writing for the present., Dizzying and fragrant with elegant and riveting sentences, Levitt takes us on a most fascinating journey from the bloody revolutions to the chemistry labs of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France, all to glimpse the glorious pursuit of scent. Truly a captivating achievement!, Focuses on early nineteenth-century bohemian Paris, where the movers and shakers in big-business perfumery battled for advantage against a revolutionary backdrop...The combination of careful research and anecdote in Theresa Levitt's book makes reading about these entrepreneurs a pleasure., At a time when the boundaries between scientists, salesmen, and charlatans were as blurry as productive, Levitt describes how investigations about health and hygiene were inseparable from the desire to smell good. The laboratories that gave us modern chemistry were not places where the disturbances of the outside world were kept out, but rather where they were welcomed in to be distilled and repackaged in their most intoxicating form. This highly original work shows us that scientific truth is not only messier than we have previously considered it to be--it is smellier., [An] extraordinary book, which begins with perfumes and ends by having us think about the origin of life itself. Édouard Laugier would have approved., Elixir is a fascinating tale of discovery, wonder, and revolution. Beautifully written and deeply researched, it shows how the paths to artificial dyes, bottled soda, and Pasteur's breakthrough all ran through a humble perfume shop. With remarkable historical and literary skill, Levitt reveals how the quest to supply queenly scents and Napoleon's bathwater ended up interrogating the most profound questions of life and death., Comprehensive...Levitt is especially good at evoking the all-consuming nature of scientific rivalry.
IllustratedYes
SynopsisA Financial Times and Scientific American Best Book of the Year. A story of alchemy in Bohemian Paris, where two scientific outcasts discovered a fundamental distinction between natural and synthetic chemicals that inaugurated an enduring scientific mystery. For centuries, scientists believed that living matter possessed a special quality--a spirit or essence--that differentiated it from nonliving matter. But by the nineteenth century, the scientific consensus was that the building blocks of one were identical to the building blocks of the other. Elixir tells the story of two young chemists who were not convinced, and how their work rewrote the boundary between life and nonlife. In the 1830s, Édouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent were working in Laugier Père et Fils, the oldest perfume house in Paris. By day they prepared the perfumery's revitalizing elixirs and rejuvenating eaux , drawing on alchemical traditions that equated a plant's vitality with its aroma. In their spare time they hunted the vital force that promised to reveal the secret to life itself. Their ideas, roundly condemned by established chemists, led to the discovery of structural differences between naturally occurring molecules and their synthetic counterparts, even when the molecules were chemically identical. Scientists still can't explain this anomaly, but it may point to critical insights concerning the origins of life on Earth. Rich in sparks and smells, brimming with eccentric characters, experimental daring, and the romance of the Bohemian salon, Elixir is a fascinating cultural and scientific history., Drawing on alchemical theory, Édouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent set out to find the vital essence of life through the craft of perfumes. While drawing the ire of enlightened Bohemian Paris, they discovered fundamental differences in the structures of naturally occurring and synthetic molecules, inaugurating a persistent scientific mystery.
LC Classification NumberTP983.L475 2023
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