This is augmented reality in book form. No touch screen, no app; this prototype takes a very different approach to immerse the reader in what they're reading. Unlike traditional books that solely rely on their written content to evoke emotional responses, Sensory Fiction addresses the physical senses to directly generate moods and emotions.

A vest around the reader's torso is equipped with a network of sensors and actuators that react and mimic emotions to reflect what's happening at that point in the story. Linked to the page movement, the book and vest create specific sensations according to the plot by changing ambient lighting or levels of vibration, The futuristic book comes with 150 programmable LED lights on the cover, speakers for sound effects, a personal heating device, a vibration device to influence the heart rate and a compression system to create feelings of tightness or anxiety, so the reader would literally feel their heart race or the shivers run down their spine if, for example, the story took a particularly scary twist.

The brainchild of MIT Media Lab students Felix Heibeck, Alexis Hope and Julie Legault, the Sensory Fiction project is an interesting way of increasing the levels of immersion and emotional response from the reader and is one that takes a very different approach from the other book enhancing project we've seen this week: LEO the Maker Prince.