Michael Hart: Founder of eBooks

Michael Hart was born in 1947 in Tacoma, Washington and died in 2011 in Urbana, Illinois. Through his short, 64 year old, lifespan he changed the way that books were available to the public. He created something called “eBooks” or the electronic book, and succeeded to promote his creation through Project Gutenburg. 

In his younger years, Hart attended University of Illinois which was also where both of his parents were professors. He graduated from here in just two years but never went on to complete graduate school. During his time at the University of Illinois is when he was given an account and decided to use it to distribute information, more or less go on to create eBooks. Surprisingly enough, some unusual aspects of his life were that his parents taught mathematics and Shakespeare. One may have thought that his parents were computer geniuses or some way involved with technology. Another unusual aspect was that he was also very much “Mr. Fix-It.” Anything that was broken, including his car, house, computer, and even himself, he would take it upon himself to fix.

The most interesting part of Michael Hart’s story to me is how he came about creating the first eBook. According to an article in the New York Times, after the fourth of July in 1971 he stopped at a grocery store where he received a copy of the Declaration of Independence. When he returned home he typed on to his computer completely copying the Declaration word for word. His intentions were to send the document he typed up as an e-mail to the computer network that created the internet.  However, one of his colleagues warned him that the message would crash the system. With this information, he decided to notify the public that the text could be downloaded which lead to the birthing of Project Gutenburg.

Project Gutenburg is the definition of digital publishing. In the beginning of this project, Hart typed up many books, turning them into eBooks, by himself. Some examples of these texts include the Bible, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, pieces from Homer and Shakespeare and many others. Over the years volunteers would help him type up books which allowed the digital library to expand. It has been estimated that there are currently around 35,000 to 40,000 eBooks in the digital library today. Another unique aspect of this project is that you can find some of these eBooks in up to 60 different languages. This allows a wider audience to be able to successfully take advantage of this great invention by Hart.

I believe that Hart contributed to technology and the future in ways that he never had imagined. As we discussed today, as of 2012, eBook sales have surpassed hardcover book sales. EBooks are incredibly convenient because if you want to read a good book while you are at the beach, all you have to do is browse online and you can virtually find any book you are looking for. It has become even more convenient with the invention of the iPad and the kindle because you can carry these eBooks around with you at the palm of your hand without the extra weight of the actual printed book. Even college textbooks can be found as eBooks which definitely lightens the load in your backpacks. Now, the next question we always ask ourselves is “what is next to come?”