The novel that really is a spine-chiller! WEARABLE book lets you physically feel characters' emotions as you read



Book is covered in sensors and actuators and hooked up to a vest



If protagonist is scared, bags in vest constrict to make reader’s chest tight



For excitement, the vest can vibrate to influence the reader’s heart rate



If a character is embarrassed, a heating device changes skin temperature



Words are all that is needed for a good author to pull at a reader’s heart strings.

But researchers at MIT's Media Lab believe readers in a digital age will need more than just sentences to be captivated by a story.

In a project dubbed ‘Sensory Fiction’, they have created a wearable book that physically makes the reader feel whatever the character is feeling.

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In a project dubbed 'Sensory Fiction', MIT researchers have created a wearable book that physically makes the reader feel the characters' feelings

As part of the project, the team created a prototype book covered in sensors and actuators and hooked up to a vest.

As the plot develops, the book produces physical sensations to mimic the characters' emotions.

If the protagonist is scared, for example, air pressure bags in the wearable vest will constrict to make the reader’s chest feel tighter.

If the protagonist is scared, pressure bags in the wearable vest constrict to make the reader's chest feel tight

HOW MIT'S 'WEARABLE' BOOK CREATES PHYSICAL SENSATIONS

A prototype book is covered in sensors and actuators and hooked up to a vest that reader wears. As the plot develops, the book produces physical sensations to mimic the characters' emotions. If the protagonist is scared, for example, air pressure bags in the wearable vest will constrict to make the reader’s chest feel tighter.

In the case of sadness, one hundred LED lights on the book cover adjust to create an ambient lighting that reflects the emotion. For excitement, the vest can vibrate to influence the reader’s heart rate by making it beat faster. If a character is embarrassed, a heating device will change the temperature of the skin.

In the case of sadness, one hundred LED lights on the book cover adjust to create an ambient lighting that reflects the emotion.

For excitement, the vest can vibrate to influence the reader’s heart rate by making it beat faster. If a character is embarrassed, a heating device will change the temperature of the skin.

The prototype story used was James Tiptree Junior's novella ‘The Girl Who Was Plugged In’.

In the story, the protagonist P Burke is deformed by pituitary dystrophy and experiences life through an avatar.

‘While the project explores new ways of reading with digital augmentations, this is not a product idea but rather an exploration in the context of science fiction stories,’ said researcher Felix Heibeck.

Some authors are skeptical about whether physical emotions can be as powerful as those created in the mind.

Adam Roberts, a science fiction writer, is reported in the Guardian as saying the concept is ‘infantalising, like reverting to those sorts of books we buy for toddlers that have buttons in them to generate relevant sound-effects’.