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The Reader Of The Future Chooses EBooks

EBooks, or electronic books to give them their full name are becoming an extremely popular form of literature in the modern world due to the reasons of convenience and usability. EBooks are usually read on either a laptop or home computer although recently a number of reader devices have entered the market, providing literature fans with a portable and simple to use form of digital literature. Where has this technology come from, and where are eBooks likely to take us in the future?

The person usually cited as the father of eBooks is Michael Hart; it was Hart who had the idea of converting existing written texts into eBooks for the reader. Hart also recognised the fact that the power of a computer did not have to lie with its mathematical prowess, but its ability to hold information instead.

The first eBook proper was the Declaration of Independence, converted into digital form at the outset of a project called Gutenberg, after the famous press of the late medieval period. The ultimate objective of this project was to convert all existing literature in the future into eBooks; so that the reader of the future would have a complete electronic library at their fingertips.

It is currently estimated that there are more than twenty thousand texts available at no cost to the reader on the internet. These texts are typically made up of the classics that have no licensing or copyright issues. That is not the full extent of eBooks in the public domain however, publishers are now realising the benefits of eBooks and are understandably producing new works of literature in digital form.

The original eBooks were predominantly used by professionals in academic circles, particularly the sciences where the computer was already established as an information storing and retrieval device. From these technical pieces of writing the eBook steadily became more widely available in the public domain, with popular pieces of writing being released in digital form.

EBooks had to overcome the fact that during their early history their use was limited due to the large number of reader formats used. Understandably with so many different file formats the marketing potential of the eBook was severely limited. It was not until the release of the portable reader that these file formats were made more uniform and hence could be marketed effectively.

Now there are multi file format reader devices out there publishers are well and truly jumping on the eBook bandwagon. It is easy to see the potential of digital literature; these portable devices allow the reader to carry with them an entire library, containing many of their favourite works of literature.

An added benefit of eBooks is that without the need to print each book on paper the rainforests, and wood stocks around the world should experience respite from over harvesting. That said the eBook still has many critics. It is understandable that some people like the feel and smell of a book too much to consider the benefits of a digital variety. Eventually though, this argument will become defunct as the environmental, as well as practical benefits of the eBook will become evident.

It is hoped that this article has presented the history of the eBook and given an idea of how it is likely to develop in the future. Today, literature fans stand at the crest of a wave, a wave that is likely to carry literature into the twenty first century and beyond.

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