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Books definately have a smell.
New books smell like ink and paper.
Older books can smell like anything from cigarette smoke to that manky funk they develop when the glue and paper begin to deteriorate. I have a few antique books that have that lovely reek of deteriorating animal-based glue.
I like ebooks better.
One of the common arguments for pbook over ebook is that pbooks can survive centuries.
Maybe this was true when they were hand written on parchment.
Modern paper deteriorates very quickly compared to parchment or clay or stone tablet.
Perhaps, if people want to ensure that books popular now would outlive our civilization, then maybe the Library of Congress should produce one copy of each book on acid-etched stainless steel, or a similar long-lived substance.
But only one copy would be needed.
Not everyone needs to own a physical copy that will outlast nuclear winter, or that could be launched into deep space for aliens to find one day.
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