Oh, now I'm sad. My grandma's house has a wood-burning fireplace, and I just emailed her this link, because on Christmas when the whole family's in the house there's often a fire there. It makes the leather on the couches all warm and it crackles and it's pretty. If she reads the link and decides to not have that going on any more, then there goes a little piece of Christmas, but if she doesn't, then I'll feel obliged to not be in that room while the fire's burning for my health, and I'll anticipate bad outcomes for family members who don't do the same thing, and that will be sad.
if she doesn't, then I'll feel obliged to not be in that room while the fire's burning for my health
The smoke goes out the chimney, then back inside through any openings. There's not much reason to assume that the room with the fireplace has a higher concentration of smoke than anywhere else in the house while the fire is hot. However, if the fire is left to burn down to embers, there may not be enough heat to force all of the smoke through the chimney.
So if you're going there anyway, you might as well enjoy the fire, at least until it starts to die down.
Sam Harris, in his recent article called The Fireplace Delusion, tries to make you feel what it's like to react to a cached belief being irreparably destroyed. Just incase you forgot what your apostasy (if you had one, of course) was like in its early stages.
What are some of the Fireplace Delusions you've come across in your days?
EDIT: WOODSMOKE HEALTH EFFECTS