Inventor of eBooks Dies: Michael S. Heart

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”  –(credited) George Bernard Shaw

This was a favorite quote of Michael Stern Heart’s, who died last September 6, 2011.  Heart is credited with the invention of eBooks.  Back in 1971 he typed up a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and made this digital copy available to everyone with a network connection at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  As computer networks improved, Heart began Project Gutenberg.  From the beginning Project Gutenberg has attempted to digitize and make available, FOR FREE, literature that is no longer protected by copyright. 

So, with that nice new Kindle, iPad, or Nook you can snuggle up with a free downloadable eBook over break, thanks to Michael S. Heart.

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