Inhale the decay

You know the smell of old books? The smell of a used bookstore? It's that slightly vanilla like scent that I have come to adore, want, crave. New books smell ... bland, like ink and paper. But the complex aroma of an old book is all its own. It even seems as if each old book smells slightly different. But what makes books smell so amazing? Science. There's stuff called cellulose and lignin in paper that breaks down as it ages into three different organic compounds; benzaldehyde, ethyl hexanol and vanillin. Vanillin smells like vanilla (suprise), benzaldehyde smells somewhat like almondy and ethyl hexanol smells flowery. You learn something new everyday. Now go open an old book and inhale those delicious decaying organic compounds.