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Some people get different senses involved in any experience. I'm one of the "smell" people. I do enjoy the way books smell -- and feel -- as part of my reading experience. It's not just books, of course. My clothing choices are influenced by the feel of the fabric on my skin. I buy pens that feel good to write with, with a strong preference for fountain pens. And yes, sometimes I miss vinyl records because there's something about sliding the album out of its cover, and then out of its sleeve, and putting it on the turntable, that's just not there when I push "play" on my Sansa.
Some people happily eat boring food day in, day out -- I have a friend who could probably live on nothing but bean burritos -- and some people are gourmets. Neither of them are wrong; it's just a difference in personal preference, in priorities, and in how much they rely on that particular sort of sensory input.
I like the smell of fresh ink on crisp new pages, and I like the smell of age on pages that many hands ... I always wonder whose ... have turned before me. I like the weight of a book, and the feel of it, the texture ... all of that. I also like my Sony PRS-505. Love, even. I wouldn't want to be without it. But it's a different thing. It's just words on a screen. All of those other sensations are missing.
I'm contemplating building a replacement for its tacky vinyl cover using bookcloth and some nice marbled endpapers, and maybe with a little space in the back to carry spare SD cards. I wonder if I could make it smell like a book?
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