LOL! It really is great fun to read.

Good, intellient, well-placed snarkiness plus deep knowledge, respect and passion for fragrance will no doubt equal one heckuva satisfying page-turner. I just know I'm going spend many nights up far past my bedtime reading it.

Just looking at the scores I've seen so far, I'd have to say I don't find them consistent with anything I'd call an objective assessment of quality — if that could, in fact, be possible. Verrrry interesting. Of couse, subjectivity is to be expected — which is precisely where the point scores become pretty much completely useless. Interesting maybe, but useless. Hey — guess I'll read the book to find out what their criteria is, and take it from there — with a grain of salt, natch!!

I'm sure the book will be a wild romp and generate oodles of happy/snarky controversy. Which is great. I guess.

Snarkiness-wise, I guess I find that snarky wears thin fast. Maybe it's the Canadian in me? We're a quiet, live-and-let-live, respectful bunch up here, generally. I mean, that's just why I like NST: you guys keep snarkiness down to a dull roar. Snarky blogs get pretty tedious pretty quick.

More importantly, I associate fragrance with the love of beauty, with positive stuff in general, and snarkiness is that kind of negativity that just isn't beautiful in the least. There's so much of that in the world already. Fragrance is my sanctuary from that, so this book seems to be about everything I don't want fragrance to be about: ego and know-it-all-ism and put-downs.

For what it's worth.

But I prefer the LT vintage. With only description and no mark. What is fun is not the mark but how he uses words to describe his feeling.

Concerning the comparison between LT and Parker, I still beleive that the majority of people doesnt have make effort to educate their nose. I mean when I see a Kid playing with shape, color, sound … I always thing .. “Why not smell” … we are quite all blind at the beginning of our perfumista journey.

When you are blind you need guide. And I still beleive that for the moment LT is a good guide. But when the guide became the judge by assigning marks … it is a different person.

When I look at Music or Movies critics … they give mark but I have a solid background to counter what is written.

Nobody see it happening in wine also. Parker at the beginning was one expert amoung others. There is a lot of testers for wine also.

But the economical system of wine market is quite different than the perfume one. Wine can rarely make ad, and 50% of the market is in fact a “Vintage” market and you dont have mainstream houses.

When friends of mine are making a CellRoom, they search new cheap wine than can take value. It is a kind of speculation.

When there is speculation, the expert advice is always taken “too much” into account.

For Chanel, Guerlain, Shisiedo .. LT is unimportant. There is no real effect if he loves or hates a perfume.

But for small niche house, a good review by LT can save you.

I am quite sure that hundreds of more sells are making the difference for Nicolai or for Rosine for exemple.

LT with the Websphere has now an economical impact on niche house. You perhaps dont buy blindly what he likes … but I am quite sure you are ready to “Test”.

On the snarky, you know, what can I say. If you don't like seeing your favorite perfume ripped to shreds, you ought not read The Guide. It does not mince words. The flip side is that it's massively entertaining, and I have to say, very well written. I am finding it massively fun to read even when I strenuously disagree with it.