Bruno Somerset
布魯諾·薩默塞特
作者簡介
布魯諾·薩默塞特（Bruno Somerset），小說家、自由撰稿人，現居美國得克薩斯州。他的作品多與藝術、娛樂、政治和宗教有關，其中不乏幽默小品文。
本文於2010年8月2日發表於雅虎網站。當下，電子書已成為時尚潮流，大受追捧，但仍有人鍾情紙質書。在此，作者也一吐心聲——手捧好書，遍翻紙頁，是閱讀的一部分。很多時候，這種閱讀體驗比單純獲取內容更重要，這也正是紙質書的魅力所在。
Ever since Amazon’s Kindle sales exploded last Christmas, and particularly since the release of Apple’s iPad, pundits, journalists, and publishing industry insiders have proclaimed the imminent death of printed books.But are books as we’ve known them for centuries really destined for the same fate as vinyl records, VHS tapes, and rotary telephones? I think not, for a number of reasons.
自從去年聖誕節亞馬遜上Kindle熱賣，特別是從蘋果iPad發售以來，學者、記者和出版業內人士便宣稱紙質書已瀕臨死亡。但有數百年曆史的書籍真的會和黑膠唱片、家用錄像帶以及轉盤撥號電話遭遇同樣的命運嗎？我認為不會，理由如下：
The first, and possible best reason that books will never suffer the same fate as the items mentioned above is that they have weathered far greater threats for over 100 years.The book’s demise was first predicted with the advent of radio, then with the arrival of motion pictures, television, video games, and finally the Internet and the digital age.It was even thought that the launch of Penguin Publishing’s paperback book line in 1935 would quickly spell the end of hardcover books; 75 years later hardcovers are still around.
紙質書不會遭遇上述事物那樣的命運的第一個理由，或許也是最佳的理由是，它已曆經數百年風雨的洗禮，麵臨過更嚴峻的考驗。人們第一次預言紙書將亡，是無線電發明之時。此後，電影、電視、電子遊戲的出現，以及網絡和數碼時代的到來，“紙書將亡”的預言一次次被提出。1935年，企鵝出版公司推出平裝書係時，人們甚至認為精裝書將迅速走向終結；但75年之後，我們身邊仍有精裝書。
Printed books are also different from other types of media because they provide readers with a tangible, tactile experience.Music is heard, and films are both seen and heard, but books are experienced visually, by touch and even by smell.There is an aspect to the feel of books (the smooth glossy cover, the roughness and the smell of the paper) that provides a sensation that is both separate from and intimately linked to the story you are reading.We bond not only with the author (novels being the only art form that requires many hours of commitment on the part of the audience) but with the book itself.