Agreed. I was humbled of this fact when traveling abroad for work to a new place where the airport's septic system was next to the main road. I was holding my breath trying to not to make a scene as all the other people around me seemed to not even notice the smell.
The lack of smell pollution nowadays is something we really take for granted and the book is a nice reminder of how much of a luxury (although in other cases also a loss) that is.