This week "Dr. Joe" Schwarcz takes a look (a sniff, really) at the chemistry of why books have their distinctive smell. The answer is (of course) that books of different eras were made from different materials. Long ago books were made from materials containing cellulose, which, with time, broke down to form small amounts of furfural, which has an almond-like scent.
As paper materials changes so did the scent of the books. New books now have a distinctive fresh odor because of bleaching agents used to make the paper. And Kindles don't smell at all, but you can buy a spray that (supposedly) be reminiscent of old books while you're reading a bunch of electrons on a plastic screen.
Here's a link to the video.
Josh Bloom
Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science
Dr. Josh Bloom, the Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science, comes from the world of drug discovery, where he did research for more than 20 years. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry.
