Unless you’ve heard of this great celebration, you probably don’t know that the first ebook was created 40 YEARS AGO! Happy 40th Birthday Ebooks! What can you do to celebrate? Read An Ebook, of course!
I almost missed it. I never knew. But now I do. And so do you. And I’m sure no one will mind that the celebration continues on past tomorrow.
40 years ago Michael Hart “decided that the greatest value created by computers would not be computing, but would be the storage, retrieval, and searching of what was stored in our libraries. The first “e-book” was born—a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Those humble beginnings would become Project Gutenberg. Today Project Gutenberg houses 20,000 free texts and over 100,000 books are available through their partners. Today over 3,000,000 books are downloaded each month.” 1
When Personal Home Computers came out and gained popularity, ebooks began to emerge out of specialty areas, and both public domain old books, and new ebooks became more common. With the advent of ebook readers, in the last few years, ebook popularity has grown exponentially. In addition to the written ebooks to be read, digital audiobooks are a popular form of electronic books also. So, whether you read your ebooks on your computer, your cell phone, your ipad, or your Kindle/Nook/Sony Reader, or if you listen to them on your ipod/mp3 player, welcome to 21st century books.
Does this mean print books are a relic of the past? I don’t think so. Stay tuned for my thoughts on ebooks vs. printed books in a future post.
In the meantime, let me know, in the comments, what ebook(s) you (and your family) are reading – and what kind of device you’re reading them on.
Let’s see. I think I need to have some sort of Birthday Present Giveaway for this celebration. If you post a comment with the ebook you’re reading and what kind of device you’re reading it on, I’ll enter your name in a drawing for an Ebook Birthday Present, one of our Me & My House Exclusives ebooks.
Want more chances to win? Sign up for our Newsletter, and post a second comment letting me know you did so, and I’ll enter your name a second time. “Like” our Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ page on Facebook for a third chance. (Be sure to post a third comment here, letting me know you did.)
Stay tuned for more on ebooks.
