Chapter 3: A Few Nanograms of Wine: Hallucinatory Smells, and Chapter 4: Hearing Things Summary and Analysis

According to Sacks, many individuals find it almost impossible to imagine smells. Although some can recall a scent in a given, familiar situation, these scents are often merely imagination, but can also be hallucinations. Sacks points out that some individuals have a highly acute sense of smell, while others have anosmia, or the complete lack of ability to smell. These individuals have some problems, as they cannot smell gas, rotten food, or other scents that indicate problems to most. Sacks writes about one man who, due to injury, suffered from anosmia, and mentions his life was decidedly worse, as he missed scents. He believed himself to be healing months later when he began to smell his pipe and coffee...