Why do old books smell? It's the smell of death.

[Fozzybear]

There's nothing like the smell of second-hand bookshops: peacefulness, wooden shelves and that musty, papery smell.

[sabredog]

There is a fantastic antiquarian bookshop called Pickwick Books in the Perth Hills within the suburb of Kalamunda. Every time I visit, I stand at the entrance foyer and take in the smell of the years. Amazing shop.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Harry_Y

Or the smell of an Aircraft Carrier.... Jet fuel and feet

Or Lubbock Texas. The combination of Oil and Cow Manure.
Apache

[Harry_Y]

Originally Posted by Apache

Or Lubbock Texas. The combination of Oil and Cow Manure.
Apache

That probably smells better

[BookCat]

Anyone who loves old bookshops and the smell of old books may enjoy reading "The Haunted Bookshop" by Christopher Morley. This is not a horror story, but a quaint tale about a second hand bookshop.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Books - paper, ink, leather, faux-leather or plastic, glue, thread ?
Infrastructure - paper-mills, printing shop, transport,postage, some advertising, existing shops and on-line to sell.
Mostly biodegradeable

Readers - well, there's the battery for a start,not good, probably a fair bit of dodgy metals inside the case, a lot of different types of plastic, metals,wiring .........
Infrastructure - metal and plastic manufacture and assembly plants, transport, parts manufacture and sourcing of raw materials, advertising, large technical infrastructure to sell online.
Some bio-degradeable, some not, some not for a long time, and some dangerous.

A bit of a pong sounds fairly liveable with, don't it.........

At the small scale, the paper book technology is definitely less environmentally damaging & more sustainable. However, when we get to several million books... I'm not so sure anymore. 50,000 ereaders each with 150 books on them = 7.5 million books. Is the production of 50k ereaders more invasive than the infrastructure for the publication of 7.5 million paper books?

(Of course, the BPHs don't want to think about this, because they don't want to believe that ereaders will mean less paper book production.)

I'm not sure "environmental cost of ereaders" can be calculated on its own, since they are predicated on the existence of a complex and widespread computer industry.

[AlexGrama]

That's interesting. Never thought of that, though. It means that death smells quite nice.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Books - paper, ink, leather, faux-leather or plastic, glue, thread ?
Infrastructure - paper-mills, printing shop, transport,postage, some advertising, existing shops and on-line to sell.
Mostly biodegradeable

Readers - well, there's the battery for a start,not good, probably a fair bit of dodgy metals inside the case, a lot of different types of plastic, metals,wiring .........
Infrastructure - metal and plastic manufacture and assembly plants, transport, parts manufacture and sourcing of raw materials, advertising, large technical infrastructure to sell online.
Some bio-degradeable, some not, some not for a long time, and some dangerous.

A bit of a pong sounds fairly liveable with, don't it.........

You left the human component off your list carpetmojo. After all books are handled over their lifetimes so at least a little sweat and associated stuff probably bleeds onto the paper too. I've got to say though that I'd never really thought of all what an old book has been exposed to over its lifetime either. Probably a good thing they can't talk and let us know where they've been and who did what.

[BookCat]

Imagine the interesting story plot of a book which could talk and speak of its adventures through the years.

I don't think I'd write this, but someone with the right turn of mind might.

[J. Strnad]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

At the small scale, the paper book technology is definitely less environmentally damaging & more sustainable. However, when we get to several million books... I'm not so sure anymore. 50,000 ereaders each with 150 books on them = 7.5 million books. Is the production of 50k ereaders more invasive than the infrastructure for the publication of 7.5 million paper books?

The "transport" item got kind of buried in there, but it's considerable. A lot of fossil fuel is used up transporting paper books, by-products spewed into the air, and other attendant costs purely of moving books from one part of the country to another.

[jbcohen]

You do know that there is a spray available that can impose that can attach that smell to anything at all.

[tubemonkey]

eBooks are the way to go.

Smell that? You smell that?

Electrons, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that.

I love the smell of electrons in the morning.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Nothing like the smell of a good electrical fire. It's not called the Kindle for nothing.