<story><title>Why do old books smell so good?</title><url>https://scienceswitch.com/2023/08/19/why-do-old-books-smell-so-good/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nmeagent</author><text>This article immediately brought to mind a particular conversation in season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...&lt;p&gt;Jenny: &amp;quot;Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Giles: &amp;quot;The smell.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Jenny: &amp;quot;Computers don&amp;#x27;t smell, Rupert.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Giles: &amp;quot;I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it, uh, it has no no texture, no-no context. It&amp;#x27;s-it&amp;#x27;s there and then it&amp;#x27;s gone. If it&amp;#x27;s to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>el_benhameen</author><text>The first computer shop that I went to as a kid (back when computer shops were a thing) had a very distinct smell that still evokes very strong memories for me now. I guess it probably wasn’t the computers themselves, but maybe that foamed rubber material used for mousepads and such, plus maybe some static charge in the air from CRTs or something? Any time I catch that smell, I’m immediately back playing Loom and Monkey Island and oogling at Pentiums and 1 GB hard drives.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why do old books smell so good?</title><url>https://scienceswitch.com/2023/08/19/why-do-old-books-smell-so-good/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nmeagent</author><text>This article immediately brought to mind a particular conversation in season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...&lt;p&gt;Jenny: &amp;quot;Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Giles: &amp;quot;The smell.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Jenny: &amp;quot;Computers don&amp;#x27;t smell, Rupert.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Giles: &amp;quot;I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it, uh, it has no no texture, no-no context. It&amp;#x27;s-it&amp;#x27;s there and then it&amp;#x27;s gone. If it&amp;#x27;s to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ktpsns</author><text>Computers can be smelly, too. Ever booted up your old Windows 95 box from the basement? The dust blown from the fans has a particular smell. It is even more dramatic for real vintage computing like punch card machines, which smell very oily, in a similar way like very old cars and planes.</text></comment>