Ignorance was/is bliss for the pleasure. I don't smoke (never did, really), gamble (parents were rabid horse bettors), or drink anymore, so let's say it is one of a few vices I am keeping for the pure pleasure of it. At least I am not huffing gas, and I always liked when my Dad pulled in and filled the car up.
I did paintings conservation for over 3 years, and I developed sensitivities to the benzene family like toluene and xylene; a whiff would give me an instant migraine, and I usually didn't get headaches much at all. All new construction, even the so-called 'green' techniques, has a lot more VOCs or other compounds that gas out, deteriorate, and otherwise create a by-product, which is why I liked my old drafty house. I lost some energy efficiency, but always had significant air exchange and all the glues had gassed off decades ago. New construction lead to Radon becoming more of an issue as a result of airtight basements and living spaces for the sake of energy efficiency. My old house was on top of glacial moraine, so Radon is something to be concerned about, but if it doesn't accumulate in concentration it is not as much an issue. That and simply caulking cracks and holes in your basement to keep it from entering in quantity is the other thing you can do. Also the drafty house ensured it never accumulated upstairs. The fix for newer homes was to put a vent to the outside the basement after caulking, sort of mini-chimney of stainless steel tube. And the fact is that it is the decay of uranium to radium to radon that releases alpha and beta particles, and gamma rays. Radon has a half-life of 3.8 days compared with uranium-238 of 4.5 billion years!
All of this reminds me of why I loved Wood Allen's movie Sleeper when I saw it with my Dad in 1973 (yeah, I know a 9-year-old shouldn't have seen such a movie, it was PG, and ratings had been less than a decade old). In short, a man is woken up 200 years later in 2173 in a dystopian future with a police state. In short, the scientists are perplexed by his request for wheat germ, tiger's milk, and something else. When they tell him all his friends are dead, he says, "But they ate organic rice!". We learn that steak, cream pies, and deep fat are good for you. Cigarettes have also been found to be very healthy! Hilarious movie! Now I have to see if I can find it!
EDIT: Found this link all about book smells. There's even a perfume for it! https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/06/01/newoldbooksmell/
PS: Don't tell California; they'll ban printed books or put labels all over the cover ;)
