Books have been around for a very long time, centuries. The first written word was on tablets and papyrus. The ancient Egyptians started writing things down in 1800 BC. They wrote on anything they could get their hands on. Stone, clay, bark and metal sheets. Wait what? Metal sheets? That’s according to Wikipedia…
I just find the whole thing fascinating that it all started so long ago.
In the 5th century, the only people who actually read books were the clergy. Books were so expensive to buy because they were all made with parchment and were hand written.
It’s interesting to know that the Arabs are who revolutionized book production. They learned how to do it from the Chinese in the 8th century. Because of them books were lighter and sewn with silk and bound with leather-covered paste boards, they had a flap that wrapped the book up when not in use. Very nice.
So fast forward a bit… people start reading books because they are cheaper and it helps educate us with textbooks in schools. I don’t care too much for history but more science fiction.
When you think of books you don’t think that it could be improved any more than it is. That is until now.
Many don’t know about Project Gutenberg, well at least I didn’t. There have been ebooks since 1971 and we didn’t even know about it. So you may think that ebooks are new but apparently they aren’t that new. What’s new is the ebook reader. In 2006 Sony brings us the Sony Reader with e-ink. I remember seeing it at Costco but it was VERY expensive.
Then Amazon comes out with their Kindle which became a hit. Nobody really cared about the Sony ebook reader because it was more than the Kindle. So people think that Amazon is the creator but they aren’t. They are who made ebook readers popular.
Now instead of having to store all of your books on a shelf where they just end up collecting dust and the paper turns yellow, you can carry your entire book collection with you everywhere you go.
A lot of people hate the idea of an ebook reader. They say that they like the smell of the leather but I mean really, they haven’t made leather-bound books in years so that argument doesn’t hold too much water with me. When I bought the Harry Potter hardcover books they weren’t leather. The hardcover is cardboard with what seems like fabric glued to it. That’s it. No leather. And it has a paper lining which has the image on it. When I was reading the hardcover Harry Potter books I had to remove that paper so I wouldn’t tear it.
I like the idea of an ebook reader mainly because of my carpel tunnel syndrome. It’s very difficult for me to sit there and hold a heavy book when I could have a device sitting in front of me on its own stand (sold separately of course lol) and being able to push the next button to change the page. It just makes sense to me.
Not only is it saving trees from being turned into books but also newspapers and magazines. You read a newspaper and when you’re finished where does it go? To the trash can. You read a magazine and when you’re finished where does it go? To the trash can. All that money going right in to the trash can. eNewspapers and eMagazines are so much cheaper as well as ebooks.
So now that we’ve gone from writing on stone, clay, bark, metal sheets and papyrus to leather bound books to what we now know today with paper back books and now ebook readers, what’s next? You didn’t think they could possibly improve on the book but they have but is that all they are going to do with it? What’s going to be the next wave of reading books? I’m very curious to know.
**Note**
I just thought that I would add that I don’t have ALL the facts, this is just my commentary. If you have a correction or something to add please feel free to leave a comment.
Help me get rid of some of my junk. Visit my Yard Sale.
Tags: amazon, ancient egyptians, arabs, centuries, clergy, costco, ebook readers, flap, metal sheets, parchment, reading books, science fiction, silk, sony ebook reader, stone clay, textbooks, wikipedia, written word
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Now on the other hand, I can see a person buying an iPad for the different applications that they have for it which is like an iPhone. But I definitely do not see the iPad taking over the e-book world.
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