Week 11 & 12 Round Up of Books Read in 2019

Week 11 & 12: March 11 - March 24, 2019

Books Read : 1

1. Fail Fail Again Fail Better by Pema Chodron - Great advice on perhaps one of the most dreaded topic or feeling which is "failure". Through her personal experiences, the author dispels all the myths related to/ attached to failure and suggests an provides an unconventional wisdom of embracing failure. The wonderful insights by the author bring forth the greatest revelation that we could get and that is - Failure is one of the most recurring experience of our life and escaping or avoiding it is letting go of so many opportunities to grow and evolve in life. If we want to be a complete, holistic being then the only way is to embrace this unknown fear of failure and let the windows of possibilities open up in our life. The book is in a Q&A (Question and Answer) format and makes for a delightful reading, something that leaves the reader more connected with self and also more aware and prepared about the uncertainties of life. The message of the book is crystal clear ( right from the title) - never be afraid or scared to fail, embrace it and only then we can live our life fully and completely.    

N.B. : The next post on the books round up will be posted in the last week of May , 2019 as a consolidated post for the preceding weeks !

Smitten by Bibliosmia !

Technology has immensely transformed the landscape of books and reading for book lovers and readers. We have dedicated reading apps, reading devices and just about anything digital provides us with capability to read and do so much more. Even this "paradigm shift" that has occured in the domain of books has not deterred the "traditional" book lovers to swear by paper based books. These category of readers still go gaga over the touch and feel of a book in hand. They are smitten by the Bibliosmia bug, which refers to act of "smelling" books. For a traditional book lover or readers nothing can beat the aroma of a book in hand and that may be one key reason for print books to be still in circulation.

Bibliosmia is not merely the act of smelling books; it's about the sensory experience that a reader gets, the aroma through the nostrils that fills his/ her mind, body and soul (sorry if it appears like extrapolating :)! ).

Ever wondered how this smell gets generated in a book !

The phenomenon of Bibliosmia is indeed very interesting - there's a science behind the wonderful sweet smell or enticing odour that emanates from the book and leave us fascinated. The paper contains cellulose and small amounts of lignin and lignin is responsible for the yellow colour of the paper. There is a stark difference in the smell of old books compared to new books and this is due to the various chemical reactions that take place in the paper over a period of time. A detailed explantion of the process can be read in the wonderful article at http://bit.ly/2kP7MPV  

If you thought this was all about Bibliosmia then hold on, there's a lot more that Bibliosmia can achieve other than just spell-binding book readers. Book conservationists/ preservationists are now using the aroma/ smell of books to judge the age of the book, get insight on the degradation of the paper and in identifying ways to preserve the text. 

The following links give a detailed explanation about the same.

• http://bit.ly/2o71jih
• http://bit.ly/2kqoaE8

Let the aroma of books keep lingering in us !