I can't wait to have proper eBook hardware so that I can stop killing trees, not to mention all the other confort issues associated with an eBook versus their paper conterparts. Something on the lines of the Librie but without the crapy DRM policy. But there are two things a good gadget will not provide: filling your bookstands with all those covers and the smell of an old book. I find that that particular smell really enriches the reading experience. I can even stop reading and let that smell transport me back those years when I would spend part of my summer vacations reading my father's books.

So this add-on to an eBook would produce the scent of old paper. Perhaps a simple sticker would do the trick or maybe a smell generator could be added...I have no idea as to how big this would have to be. If this last route was taken, maybe different smells could be produced to *really* enhance the reading experience.
-- PauloSargaco, Jul 02 2004

BUNGCO would be very pleased to provide this service to you, under contract. Old books will be obtained from large, poorly maintained Russian libraries and ground up in a vat, in a manner adapted from the technology in "Soylent Greens". This will release the old book odor, which we have found is comprised of glue, mold and silverfish droppings. Cellulose will be filtered out and reprocessed into hamburger boxes, and the hazy beige old book odor elixir (HBOBO elixir) which remains can be dribbled into a special reservoir in the e-book. As the processor heats up, the smell is released. True bibliophiles can also drizzle HBOBO into newer books, as well as themselves.
-- bungston, Jul 02 2004


//Cellulose will be filtered out and reprocessed into hamburger boxes//
Or more likely, into actual hamburgers.
-- angel, Jul 02 2004


//I find that that particular smell really enriches the reading experience//

I think it goes beyond the smell. It's turning each page, underlining a sentence that really gets to you, feeling the texture of the paper on your fingertips and the weigh of the book in your hands. It's keeping them as heritage for your descendants.

I'll just stick to the old-fashioned reading experience.
-- Pericles, Jul 02 2004


Old books do smell. I did pick up a rather old-paper-smelling Tom Swift book a while back. It had much more smell than an 1800's German language Bible that I have. I can't say that I associate a particular value with smelling either of them.

Neutral from me.
-- half, Jul 02 2004


Old paper smell makes me sneeze, making the paper wet, promoting the development of old paper smell.
-- Laughs Last, Jul 02 2004


// underlining a sentence that really gets to you //

That reminds me once I lent a Sci-Fi book to this girl. When I got it back it was all scribbled. When I brought it to her atention, that it wasn't proper to write on other people's books, she actually was offended and said that she had enriched the book for me. Some nerve...!
-- PauloSargaco, Jul 04 2004


I hear you Paulo. I would have hated her as well.

No one should mess with my books!!!!
-- Pericles, Jul 04 2004



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