Smell Books in Google Book Search

One major difference between reading books digitally and on paper is the touch and smell of the paper which is totally absent in the digital versions of the books. There are other shortcomings of digital books too, such as the ability to quickly flip pages to refer back to some chapters behind.

Today, Google announced that they have made a breakthrough in bringing the smell of the books they scanned for Google Book Search. They somehow managed to capture the smell and through tricky JavaScript, allow users to smell the books once they view the titles in Google Book Search.

Here's what the official blog says:

Using special equipment and tricky JavaScript, we're now able to capture some of the smells during the scanning process and then embed them in your web browser when you preview these titles in Google Book Search.

Are you ready to smell the books? Try some of these books that now come with smells.

• The Science of Chocolate
• Gorillas in the Mist
• Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide

You will see a picture like the one below on the top right corner and if you click on it, Google will load the odor and you can start smelling the book. Cool? Try it. =D

Enjoy the fun.

This is an April Fool joke. So you won't see the scratch-and-sniff icon anymore. =D