I decided to spell out the year as “twenty-ten” on my calendar because it looked right typographically. Little did I know then that the pronunciation of “2010” was such a controversy! According to this piece the other day on NPR, “In 45 days, there will be a mob at Times Square counting down. But what do we call the year that kicks in when the ball comes down? The four digits — 2,0,1,0 — are not in dispute, but how we say them evidently is.” It goes on to ask many supposed experts the correct pronunciation, but there doesn’t seem to be an agreement. So what expert should we decide to listen to? Last night I listened to the BBC World on the radio, and I noticed the readers all said “twenty-ten.” I’ll be keeping my ears open for what everyone else is saying…

I once had a geology friend who, when we went hiking, would taste (well, actually lick) the rocks to identify them. Apparently you can do something similar with books — judge them by their odor. According to this article in Wired,

Just sniffing an old book can tell chemists a lot about the state of the paper in a vintage volume, including its level of acidity, lignin and rosin, which are all important variables for deciding how to approach preserving the text.

This next quote from the article caused me to stick my nose in a few volumes on my bookshelf — unfortunately the hint of vanilla was definitely missing, more noticeable was old sock.

“The aroma of an old book is familiar to every user of a traditional library. A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness, this unmistakable smell is as much part of the book as its contents. ” —Matija Strlic, et al, in Analytical Chemistry