Why books are here to stay
-
0:00 - 0:03I will lend books to people,
but of course, the rule is -
0:03 - 0:07"Don't do that unless you never
intend to see that book again." -
0:07 - 0:08[Small thing.]
-
0:08 - 0:10[Big idea.]
-
0:13 - 0:17The physical object of a book
is almost like a person. -
0:17 - 0:19I mean, it has a spine
and it has a backbone. -
0:19 - 0:20It has a face.
-
0:20 - 0:23Actually, it can sort of be your friend.
-
0:23 - 0:26Books record the basic human experience
-
0:26 - 0:28like no other medium can.
-
0:28 - 0:29Before there were books,
-
0:29 - 0:32ancient civilizations would record things
-
0:32 - 0:36by notches on bones
or rocks or what have you. -
0:36 - 0:40The first books as we know them
originated in ancient Rome. -
0:40 - 0:42We go by a term called the codex,
-
0:42 - 0:45where they would have
two heavy pieces of wood -
0:45 - 0:46which become the cover,
-
0:46 - 0:50and then the pages in between
would then be stitched along one side -
0:50 - 0:54to make something that was relatively
easily transportable. -
0:54 - 0:57They all had to completely
be done by hand, -
0:57 - 0:59which became the work
of what we know as a scribe. -
0:59 - 1:03And frankly, they were luxury items.
-
1:03 - 1:06And then a printer
named Johannes Gutenberg, -
1:06 - 1:12in the mid-fifteenth century,
created the means to mass-produce a book, -
1:12 - 1:13the modern printing press.
-
1:13 - 1:15It wasn't until then
-
1:15 - 1:19that there was any kind of consumption
of books by a large audience. -
1:19 - 1:24Book covers started to come into use
in the early nineteenth century, -
1:24 - 1:27and they were called dust wrappers.
-
1:27 - 1:29They usually had advertising on them.
-
1:29 - 1:31So people would take them off
and throw them away. -
1:31 - 1:35It wasn't until the turn of the nineteenth
into the twentieth century -
1:35 - 1:40that book jackets could be seen
as interesting design -
1:40 - 1:41in and of themselves.
-
1:42 - 1:44Such that I look at that and I think,
-
1:44 - 1:45"I want to read that.
-
1:46 - 1:47That interests me."
-
1:47 - 1:51The physical book itself represents
both a technological advance -
1:51 - 1:54but also a piece of technology
in and of itself. -
1:54 - 1:57It delivered a user interface
-
1:57 - 2:01that was unlike anything
that people had before. -
2:01 - 2:04And you could argue
that it's still the best way -
2:04 - 2:06to deliver that to an audience.
-
2:07 - 2:10I believe that the core purpose
of a physical book -
2:10 - 2:13is to record our existence
-
2:13 - 2:19and to leave it behind
on a shelf, in a library, in a home, -
2:19 - 2:24for generations down the road
to understand where they came from, -
2:24 - 2:27that people went through
some of the same things -
2:27 - 2:29that they're going through,
-
2:29 - 2:32and it's like a dialogue
that you have with the author. -
2:32 - 2:36I think you have a much more human
relationship to a printed book -
2:36 - 2:39than you do to one that's on a screen.
-
2:39 - 2:42People want the experience of holding it,
-
2:42 - 2:47of turning the page,
of marking their progress in a story. -
2:47 - 2:50And then you have, of all things,
the smell of a book. -
2:50 - 2:54Fresh ink on paper
or the aging paper smell. -
2:55 - 2:57You don't really get that
from anything else. -
2:57 - 3:01The book itself, you know,
can't be turned off with a switch. -
3:01 - 3:04It's a story that you can
hold in your hand -
3:04 - 3:05and carry around with you
-
3:05 - 3:08and that's part of what makes
them so valuable, -
3:08 - 3:13and I think will make them valuable
for the duration. -
3:13 - 3:15A shelf of books, frankly,
-
3:15 - 3:16is made to outlast you, (Laughs)
-
3:16 - 3:18no matter who you are.
- Title:
- Why books are here to stay
- Speaker:
- Chip Kidd
- Description:
-
Despite the rise of e-books, physical books aren't going anywhere. Graphic designer Chip Kidd shares why their design is so lasting.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED Series
- Duration:
- 03:32
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why books are here to stay | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why books are here to stay | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for Why books are here to stay | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for Why books are here to stay | ||
Krystian Aparta accepted English subtitles for Why books are here to stay | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Why books are here to stay | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Why books are here to stay | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why books are here to stay |