The physical object of a book is almost like a person.

書的構成幾乎可以說和人一樣。

I mean, it has a spine, it has a backbone, it has a face.

書有脊柱、骨架，還有張臉。

Actually, it can, sort of, be your friend.

基本上，書可以算是你的朋友。

Books record the basic human experience like no other medium can.

書籍記錄了人類基本經驗，這是其他媒體無法做到的。

Before there were books, ancient civilizations would record things by notches on bones or rocks or what have you.

書本出現前，古代文明會透過在骨頭或岩石上的刻劃來記事。

The first books as we know them originated in ancient Rome.

我們所知道的第一本書籍起源於古羅馬。

We go by a term called the "codex", where they would have two heavy pieces of wood which become the cover,

我們稱之為「抄本」人們用兩塊沉重的木頭作為封面，

and then the pages in between would then be stitched along one side to make something that was relatively easily transportable.

然後將中間書頁沿一側縫合，做成比較容易攜帶的樣子。

They all had to completely be done by hand, which became the work of what we know as a scribe.

書必須完全由手工製成，而這就是我們熟知的抄寫員的工作。

And, frankly, they were luxury items.

那時，書籍都是奢侈品。

And then a printer named Johannes Gutenberg, in the mid-15th century, created the means to mass-produce a book, the modern printing press.

到了十五世紀中葉，名叫約翰尼斯·谷騰堡的印刷商創造出了大規模生產圖書的方法 -- 現代印刷機。

It wasn't until then that there was any kind of consumption of books by a large audience.

直到那時，書籍才成為大眾消費的一環。

Book covers started to come into use in the early 19th century, and they were called "dust wrappers".

十九世紀初，人們開始使用書皮，那時它們被稱為「防塵包裝」

[They] Usually had advertising on them.

書皮上通常會有廣告。

So people would take them off and throw them away.

所以人們會把它們摘下來扔掉。

It wasn't until the turn of the 19th into the 20th century that book jackets could be seen as interesting design in and of themselves.

直到十九世紀快二十世紀時，書皮才開始有有趣的設計。

Such that I'd look at that and I'd think, "I wanna read that; that interests me."

讓消費者看到時想：「我想看這個，這看起來很有趣。」

The physical book itself represents both a technological advance but also a piece of technology in and of itself.

實體書既代表了一項技術的進步，也代表了這項技術本身。

It delivered a user interface that was unlike anything that people had before.

它提供了用戶界面，那是以前沒有的。

And you could argue that it's still the best way to deliver that to an audience.

可以說，這仍然是向觀眾傳遞訊息最好的方式。

I believe that the core purpose of a physical book is to record our existence and to leave it behind on a shelf, in a library, in a home for generations down the road to understand where they came from.

我認為，實體書的核心目的是記錄人類的存在，並將其留在書架上、圖書館裡、家裡，好讓世世代代的人瞭解自己的來歷。

That people went through some of the same things that they're going through.

他們正在經歷的事，過往人們也都經歷過。

And it's, like, a dialogue that you have with the author.

就像你與作者在對談。

I think you have a much more human relationship to a printed book than you do to one that's on a screen.

我認為比起對著螢幕，人和印刷書有著更多人際互動。

People want the experience of holding it, of turning the page, of marking their progress in a story.

人們要的是拿著書的體驗，翻頁、標註閱讀進度的感受。

And then you have, of all things, the smell of a book.

還有這些體驗之中，書的味道。

Fresh ink on paper or the aging paper smell.

新鮮油墨在紙上的味道，或是老化紙張的氣味。

You don't really get that from anything else.

這是無法從其他地方得到的。

The book itself, you know, can't be turned off with a switch.

書不能用開關關閉。

It's a story that you can hold in your hand and carry around with you, and that's part of what makes them so valuable.

它是可以握在手中、隨身攜帶的故事，這正是其中一個讓書如此有價值的原因。

And, I think, will make them valuable for... for the duration.

我相信這能讓書持續保有其價值。

A shelf of books, frankly, is made to outlast you, no matter who you are.

不管你是誰，一書架的書都能讓你長留於世。