[bookshare-discuss] Fw: [bardtalk] Michael Hart, inventor of the ebook, dies aged 64 | Books | guardian.co.uk

  • From: Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: blind-x@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2011 21:37:27 -0400

Hi all,
Interesting that we had to hear this news from a British newspaper. Doesn't anyone in the United States care that such a giant has passed?
I have a long and fruitful relationship with Gutenberg to report. I used to download individual books from there once in a while, but my greatest treasure, my original library of e-texts came from Gutenberg. Back in 1998, when I had a very small computer, I bought one hundred floppy disks from Phil Scovell who had been culling Gutenberg books since they made their appearance on the net. I paid $125.00 for those hundred floppies. At the time, I didn't know how many books could fit on a floppy drive. I thought I had maybe one hundred books, one per disk. I figured that was a pretty good deal. When the disks arrived, I placed the first disk in the computer, only to discover that I had purchased seven hundred and forty books for approximately $.17 each. These are classics, Shakespeare, Milton, the Greek playwrights, Plato, John Locke, Twain, Dickens and more. Friends, I sat before my computer with tears streaming down my face. I couldn't move for five to ten minutes. Michael Hart's contribution to literacy is immeasurable. Read the below, and then go take a look at what's available on Gutenberg to *anyone* at all. These are txt files, they can be printed, brailled, magnified, spoken by a screen reader or piped to a paperless braille display. If knowledge is power, then Michael Hart has empowered an entire generation! 

Ann P.

--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL:  akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
web site:  http://www.portaltutoring.info
Skype: Putertutor

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."
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--- Begin Message ---
  • From: "Lynn Evans" <evans-lynn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "BARD Talk" <bardtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2011 21:05:27 -0400
for your information
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/08/michael-hart-inventor-ebook-dies/print

--- End Message ---

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