The smell of books..... ?

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Knowing this place, within moments of the scent dispenser going on the market, somebody at MR would figure out how to hack it and convert it to a web cam or something.

Books always smelled like dust to me. That is the smell I imagine whenever I'm reading and the story's characters go into a crypt.

Now, give me a nice stack of freshly mimeographed quizzes, and I'll try to inhale them in one big sniff. I used to love that smell! (Perhaps that explains my disappearing memory of late?)

I thought the mimeograph machines had become obsolete, but the school where I was a substitute teacher recently still used one! I couldn't believe how the smell took me back to elementary school and some of the best (and worst) memories of my early life. It's amazing what the sense of smell can evoke.

And Dixie, I am pretty sure the fumes didn't destroy very many of your brain cells..., uh, where was I??... oh, well, uh, never mind.

Kaz

[joobies]

The health factors of books and newspapers are why I have an ebook. I simply can no longer be exposed to them for any length of time, without paying a severe price.

[DixieGal]

It was so sweet a few weekends ago when I cleaned the shelves and got rid of all of the pbooks. I refilled the shelves with gemstones and rocks, but at least when they get dusty, all you have to do is wash them in soap and water. That cleaning treatment only makes books get all swollen and soggy.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

I'm allergic to the mold commonly found in books so sniffing books is definitely not a pleasure for me.

Me, too. That's one of my chief reasons for wanting to move to ebooks. I'm also allergic to dust, which they attract. It's a lot of work keeping the bookshelves clean and they take up too much square footage in my overpriced California home. On the bright side, with home values plummeting, the value of the space they take up isn't nearly so appalling as it used to be.

[HistoryWes]

I love the smell of books, particularly old ones. Telling me that I'm smelling mould and rotting glue doesn't take it away. I love my Sony Reader, but I still love to press my nose into the spine of a book.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Now, give me a nice stack of freshly mimeographed quizzes, and I'll try to inhale them in one big sniff. I used to love that smell! (Perhaps that explains my disappearing memory of late?)

For some reason I read that as "Now give me a nice stack of fresh meringues" and was about to agree wholeheartedly with you!

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

For some reason I read that as "Now give me a nice stack of fresh meringues" and was about to agree wholeheartedly with you!

Yes, that was what i meant to type, give me meringues. Now, please.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Yes, that was what i meant to type, give me meringues. Now, please.

With or without whipped cream?

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

With or without whipped cream?

I've never had it with whipped cream, so both, please.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I've never had it with whipped cream, so both, please.

One pile of meringues au naturale, and one pile sandwiched with cream coming up! (The sweet crunchiness and smooth creaminess go very well together)

[Sydney's Mom]

I love the smell of new books. When I was a kid, we had very few new books, and when I got one and was sniffing it, my mother said it would probably give me brain damage. Since I never once saw her read a book, and I read constantly, I guess she was right.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I love the smell of new books. When I was a kid, we had very few new books, and when I got one and was sniffing it, my mother said it would probably give me brain damage. Since I never once saw her read a book, and I read constantly, I guess she was right.

Perhaps your mum meant "damage" in the same way that a sculptor "damages" a block of marble.

I do remember one smell of books I disliked, and they were the (generally science-related) textbooks at school. Now, you might, with reasonable assumption, cite Pavlovian Reflex with that one too, but science classes were about the only thing I liked about school. No, it was that, whether it was the glue, or bleach, or ink, or whatever, they always seemed to reek of vomit.

Cheers,
Marc

[Parastie]

I signed up just to post to this thread.
It's a solution to the ebook smell problem.
Scratch-and-Sniff stickers.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/c...he-real-thing/

[fugazied]

It's kind of disgusting when you realise that the smell is the paper decaying, the chemical in the paper and ink leeching out and possibly the smell of tiny mites who have decided to live in the book decaying. lol

I do like the smell too though.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Parastie

I signed up just to post to this thread.
It's a solution to the ebook smell problem.
Scratch-and-Sniff stickers.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/c...he-real-thing/

And an excellent first post it is too, Parastie.

I never understood "scratch-and-sniff". The results from the little panels always reminded me of the HHGTTG Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser:

"When the 'Drink' button is pressed it makes an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism, and then sends tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centres of the subject's brain to see what is likely to be well received. However, no-one knows quite why it does this because it then invariably delivers a cupful of liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."

Cheers,
Marc