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The Secret of Chanel No. 5
- The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume
- Narrated by: Liz de Nesnera
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
Every minute, someone buys an Art Deco-inspired, amber-hued bottle of Chanel No. 5 - to the tune of more than half a million bottles a year. Considering that nearly 90 years have passed since No. 5’s creation, this statistic alone makes a compelling case for the perfume’s stature as the world’s most famous.
However, its cultural impact might be even more staggering than its business success: Andy Warhol’s silk-screened version of bottle helped to make its image iconic; Mitch Ryder’s “Devil in a Blue Dress” famously wore it; and, when Marilyn Monroe was asked what she wore to bed, she replied, with more than a hint of flirtation: “Why, Chanel No. 5 of course.” Adding to the perfume’s prestige, some of the most glamorous actresses of our age, including Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman, and Audrey Tautou, have been its official face.
We all know the story of Coco Chanel, but how much do we actually know about her signature perfume - a fragrance that has enjoyed remarkable success for nearly a century? The Secret of Chanel No. 5 is the story of Tilar J. Mazzeo’s far-ranging and often quixotic search to discover the answer - and of the fascinating detours into the history of perfume that come from asking the question: What is the secret behind No. 5’s creation, iconic status, and extraordinary success?
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Story
Journalist Maximillian Potter uncovers a fascinating plot to destroy the vines of La Romance-Conti, Burgundy's finest and most expensive wine. In January 2010, Aubert de Villaine, the famed proprietor of the Domaine de la Romance-Conti, the tiny, storied vineyard that produces the most expensive, exquisite wines in the world, received an anonymous note threatening the destruction of his priceless vines by poison - a crime that in the world of high-end wine is akin to murder - unless he paid a one million euro ransom.
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Eet waz eenteresteeng
- By J. Cadow on 04-25-16
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Stoned
- Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World
- By: Aja Raden
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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What makes a stone a jewel? What makes a jewel priceless? And why do we covet beautiful things? In this brilliant account of how eight jewels shaped the course of history, jeweler and scientist Aja Raden tells an original and often startling story about our unshakeable addiction to beauty and the darker side of human desire.
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Cringe-inducing, vapid, and self-conscious
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-27-16
By: Aja Raden
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The Juice
- Vinous Veritas: Essays
- By: Jay McInerney
- Narrated by: Jay McInerney
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than a decade, Jay McInerney’s vinous essays, now featured in The Wall Street Journal, have been praised by restaurateurs (“Filled with small courses and surprising and exotic flavors, educational and delicious at the same time” —Mario Batali), by esteemed critics (“Brilliant, witty, comical, and often shamelessly candid and provocative” —Robert M. Parker Jr.), and by the media (“His wine judgments are sound, his anecdotes witty, and his literary references impeccable” — The New York Times).
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eye opener
- By FlGatorsGuy on 11-16-15
By: Jay McInerney
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Chocolate Wars
- The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers
- By: Deborah Cadbury
- Narrated by: Deborah Cadbury
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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With a cast of characters that wouldnt be out of place in a Victorian novel, Chocolate Wars tells the story of the great chocolatier dynasties, through the prism of the Cadburys. Chocolate was consumed unrefined and unprocessed as a rather bitter, fatty drink for the wealthy elite until the late 19th century, when the Swiss discovered a way to blend it with milk and unleashed a product that would conquer every market in the world.
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The World of Chocolate
- By Jean on 11-05-14
By: Deborah Cadbury
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Thinking Small
- The Long, Strange Trip of the Volkswagon Beetle
- By: Andrea Hiott
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Sometimes achieving big things requires the ability to think small. This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad men of Madison Avenue, beguiled Woodstock Nation, and has recently been re-imagined for the hipster generation. And while today it is surely one of the most recognizable cars in the world, few of us know the compelling details of this car’s story.
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book is a history lesson
- By Michael miller on 10-02-12
By: Andrea Hiott
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After the Romanovs
- Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War
- By: Helen Rappaport
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris has always been a city of cultural excellence, fine wine and food, and the latest fashions. But it has also been a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution, never more so than before and after the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Romanov dynasty. For years, Russian aristocrats had enjoyed all that Belle Époque Paris had to offer, spending lavishly when they visited. It was a place of artistic experimentation, such as Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But the brutality of the Bolshevik takeover forced Russians of all types to flee their homeland.
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Well written and researched- A Romanov PostScript
- By Pita on 07-24-22
By: Helen Rappaport
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Bourbon Empire
- The Past and Future of America's Whiskey
- By: Reid Mitenbuler
- Narrated by: Brian O'Neill
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Unraveling the many myths and misconceptions surrounding America's most iconic spirit, Bourbon Empire traces a history that spans frontier rebellion, Gilded Age corruption, and the magic of Madison Avenue. Whiskey has profoundly influenced America's political, economic, and cultural destiny, just as those same factors have inspired the evolution and unique flavor of the whiskey itself.
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Great whiskey history great American history
- By Larry G. on 06-16-15
By: Reid Mitenbuler
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Hershey
- Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams
- By: Michael D'Antonio
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In this compelling biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives us the real-life rags-to-riches story of Milton S. Hershey, a largely uneducated businessman whose idealistic sense of purpose created an immense financial empire, a town, and a legacy that lasts to this day.
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The Benchmark for Chartiable, Rich Men
- By Boyd Tschaggeny on 01-30-19
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A Man and His Mountain
- The Everyman Who Created Kendall-Jackson and Became America's Greatest Wine Entrepreneur
- By: Edward Humes
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist tells the story of the self-made billionaire who built the Kendall-Jackson empire from nothing into the biggest-selling brand of premium wines in the U.S. Jess Stonestreet Jackson was one of a small band of pioneering entrepreneurs who put California's wine country on the map. His life story is a compelling slice of history, daring, innovation, feuds, intrigue, talent, mystique, contrarianism, and luck, offering a unique window on the elegant, adventurous, and cut-throat worlds of Jackson's two passions: wine and horseracing.
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Required listening for any wine maker
- By Michael Carr on 01-10-15
By: Edward Humes
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Printer's Error
- Irreverent Stories from Book History
- By: Rebecca Romney, J. P. Romney
- Narrated by: J.P. Romney
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the Gutenberg Bible first went on sale in 1455, printing has been viewed as one of the highest achievements of human innovation. But the march of progress hasn't been smooth; downright bizarre is more like it. Printer's Error chronicles some of the strangest and most humorous episodes in the history of Western printing. Take, for example, the Gutenberg Bible. While the book is regarded as the first printed work in the Western world, Gutenberg's name doesn't appear anywhere on it.
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Porn for Ye Old Bibliophiles
- By George M. Liveakos on 03-24-17
By: Rebecca Romney, and others
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The Billionaire's Vinegar
- The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
- By: Benjamin Wallace
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Abridged
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It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. In 1985, at a heated auction by Christie’s of London, a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux - one of a cache of bottles unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson - went for $156,000 to a member of the Forbes family. The discoverer of the bottle was pop-band manager turned wine collector Hardy Rodenstock, who had a knack for finding extremely old and exquisite wines. But rumors about the bottle soon arose.
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Not just for enophiles
- By Julie W. Capell on 06-03-09
By: Benjamin Wallace
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The Great Escape
- Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World
- By: Kati Marton
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The stunning story of the breathtaking journey of nine extraordinary men from Budapest to the New World, what they experienced along their dangerous route, and how they changed America and the world. In a style both personal and historically groundbreaking, acclaimed author Kati Marton (born in Budapest) tells the tale of their youth in Budapest's Golden Age of the early 20th century, their flight, and their lives of extraordinary accomplishment, danger, glamour, and poignancy.
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very interesting, well-narrated
- By D. Littman on 12-17-06
By: Kati Marton
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The Black Russian
- By: Vladimir Alexandrov
- Narrated by: Peter Marinker
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The Black Russian is the incredible story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi. After leaving the South and working as a waiter and valet in Chicago and Brooklyn, Frederick sought greater freedom in London, then crisscrossed Europe, and - in a highly unusual choice for a black American at the time - went to Russia in 1899. Because he found no color line there, Frederick made Moscow his home. He renamed himself Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, married twice, acquired a mistress, and took Russian citizenship.
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US Born African Descendant 2 Russian Citizenship
- By Sheila Gibson on 03-14-15
What listeners say about The Secret of Chanel No. 5
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-02-24
Interesting, not life changing
Kept my attention and got me curious enough about chanel no 5 to track down a sniff of it.
No regrets listening - a good break from some heavy listens.
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- Nola
- 11-26-11
Fascinating behind the scenes story of an icon
I liked the story and was intrigued by how much impact one "little perfume" had. I found myself curious to know more about the Chanel firm - beyond Number 5 that is. Does a very good story of placing the story against cultural and historical background. I was not too keen on the narrator. Somewhat annoying voice, and her pronunciation of Coco sounded like Cuckoo, which got a bit wearing. I think she should stick to regular pronunciation for that word, and some of the other "foreign" words.
All in all a great book, and recommended for anyone wanting to know more about Chanel and the incredible importance of this product to the company.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ori
- 11-25-19
Chanel No5
I didnt know how subconsciously I repeated Chanel No5 after each time Ms. Mazzeo said it, until my friend caught me on it.
Captivating and personal.
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- Nobody's business
- 04-02-14
Fascinating story with poor presentation at times
Most of the first hour of this book borders on smut. After that, it's worth listening to for the intricate history of this famous fragrance.
The story of Chanel No. 5 involves the Romonovs, tales of industrial espionage, international incidents, political intrigues, celebrities, and marketing ploys that were, at times, pure genious and, at other times, pure folly.
I found the story, itself, to be enchanting. The presentation of the story, however, suffered from too much emphasis on sexual themes, occassional profanity (once or twice, but too much, in my opinion), and, mostly due to the meanderings into subjective opinions about the sensuality of the fragrance, a lack of cohesion. Thus the reduction of two stars from the Overall score.
The narrator, Liz de Nesnera, did a good job with the material. She wasn't stellar, but she wasn't bad. I listened at a speed of 3x.
If you're interested in the life of Coco Chanel, the history of the Chanel company, Chanel No. 5, or in the perfume industry, in general, this book is worth the money or the credit.
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6 people found this helpful
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- camila frias
- 06-12-21
Very well narrated and exactly the right length.
I would recommend it to anyone that is interested about perfuming but also for people that are curious about product creation process, marketing and fashion.
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5 people found this helpful
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- L. Locker
- 10-30-23
Chanel as Product and Person
Perfume and biography fans will appreciate it. the technical details of advances in chemical synthetics and the story of Coco as a person is a little choppy.
I was unaware of Coco's decisions during WW2 Nazi Occupation of France or the business of Chanel complexities. Her life was as complex and almost as mythological as the famed perfume.
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