The 1930s Reading Machine That Predicted Ebooks

[tsgreer]

I’ve been hooked on early ebook ideas ever since I read The Hobbit on an old Palm Pilot back in the day. Staff meetings were boring, so glancing at my Palm Pilot made me look like I wasn't just ignoring everyone around me.

I remember thinking, wow, everyone should be doing this! That lead me to my eBookwise EBW-1150 e-reader (still have it!), and looking for more info let me to this forum all those years ago.

Here's a little bit about the story of Bob Brown and his “Readies,” a 1930s attempt to reinvent reading long before real ebooks existed. He'd just seen a movie with sound, and they were called Talkies. So hey, why not call ebooks, Readies?! lol

Brown imagined a handheld machine that used microfilm and magnification to scroll tiny text at adjustable speeds, letting readers change type size and even blaze through long novels if they wanted.

Writers like Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound supported the idea, and Brown even built a prototype, but the world wasn’t ready for it yet. The idea faded until digital books finally took off decades later.

An ebook nerd before ebooks. Love it!

Here's the article: https://www.mentalfloss.com/literatu...book-invention

[issybird]

Well, this is unprecedented. The first time I've moved a thread OUT of the Lounge and INTO the General Discussion forum! This is clearly related to ereading; kudos to the OP for being so scrupulous.

[tsgreer]

Originally Posted by issybird

Well, this is unprecedented. The first time I've moved a thread OUT of the Lounge and INTO the General Discussion forum! This is clearly related to ereading; kudos to the OP for being so scrupulous.

Haha, thank you. I wasn't sure where to put it. Because it kinda deals with past stuff, and not current. So thank you for putting it where it should be!