Why Do Books Smell So Good?

Researchers have set out to catalog the scent compounds that make books and libraries smell so welcoming. Learn how in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Lauren bog Obam Here. If you're like me, you love
the smell of old fashioned analog paper books, old books,
new books, and researchers at University College London suggests that
these scents aren't just nice, they're an important part of
the human experience. In an extensive study of smells, heritage

(00:25):
and historic paper published in the journal Heritage Science, the
authors argue the importance of documenting and preserving smells, but why.
The researchers realized that visitors at St. Paul's Cathedral, Dean
and Chapter Library in London frequently comment on the aroma
of the space, saying they feel like they can smell
history thanks to our limbic system. Odors can make us

(00:49):
pretty emotional, especially when they evoke memories. Sense affect how
we experience different cultures and places and help us gain
more insight into and engage more deeply with the past.
The researchers posit that smells are part of our cultural
heritage and have historical value and deserve to be identified, analyzed,
and archived. Using chemical analysis and sensory descriptions, the study

(01:11):
authors set about figuring out a way for scientists and
historians to do so. In one experiment, the researchers asked
visitors at the historic library to characterize the odors they smelled.
More than seventy percent of respondents considered the library smell
as pleasant. All of the visitors thought it smelled woody,
while noticed a smokey aroma, reported an earthy scent, and

(01:35):
forty one percent said they smelled vanilla. Other less frequent
responses ranged from musty, too pungent, and floral to rancid.
In another experiment, the study authors analyzed the responses of
seventy nine visitors to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
UK to the smell of a historic book from a
second hand bookstore. To capture the book smell, a piece

(01:56):
of sterile gauze was soaked in five million leaders of
an extract of the book odor and placed in an
unlabeled metal canister screwed shut to prevent visitors from peaking.
The top three responses when the visitors were prompted to
describe the smell chocolate, coffee, and old. The team then
analyzed the volatile organic compounds in the book and the library.

(02:18):
Most odors are composed of these v o c s,
which are chemicals that evaporate at low temperatures. VOCs are
often associated with certain smell types, for example, acetic acid
smells sour, isoamal acetate smells like bananas. Using the data
from the chemical analysis and visitors smell descriptions, the researchers
created the Historic Book Odor Wheel to document an archive

(02:41):
the historic library smell Main categories such as sweet or
spicy fill the inner circle of the wheel. Descriptors such
as caramel or biscuits fill the middle, and the chemical
compounds likely to be the smelly source, like for furral,
fill the outer circle. The researchers want the Book Odor
Wheel to be an inter disciplinary tool that untrained noses

(03:02):
can use to identify smells and the compounds causing them,
which could address conservators concerns about material composition and degradation,
inform artifact paper conservation decisions, and benefit olfactory museum experiences.
Today's episode was written by Shelley Dancy and produced by Tyler.

(03:24):
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