This is so cool! I feel like every reader knows the smell of old books, but what actually IS that smell?? Well, we finally have our answer, broken down into what people say they think it smells like connected to the actual chemicals that might be making it smell that way. Cool!
You should really read the article, but for people who like to skip to the last page, the overall smell people reported is a sort of woody, earthy smell. Think of damp peat moss, if you have any familiarity with damp peat moss.
My top 3 weirdest results in the list:
- “green”
- “old seasoning”
- “fish”
My Book Joy 