The 1930s Reading Machine That Predicted Ebooks

tsgreer · 12-02-2025, 05:42 PM

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 · 12-02-2025, 07:13 PM

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 · 12-02-2025, 07:34 PM

Quote:

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!

Renate · 12-07-2025, 03:33 AM

Maybe we should have badges here like "My first ereader was a Palm Pilot."

I can remember using microfiche for some newspaper search once.
I don't think that I've ever used microfilm.
There's still a lot of that stuff that has never been digitized.

tsgreer · 12-07-2025, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renate

Maybe we should have badges here like "My first ereader was a Palm Pilot."

That would be fun. I still have the Palm Pilot (Palm IIIx) too on my bookshelf. I've had this since 1999. When we were all scared of Y2K hahahahaha

And for me, that started everything e-book love. I just pulled it out as I read this message, to see if it still worked. I put in new batteries, it comes on but the screen doesn't seem to accept the stylus anymore, so I can't get past opening screen. I should probably throw it away..but it was my first! lol

Renate · 12-08-2025, 12:10 AM

I don't recall where my Palm III went to.
I bought it around 2007 at a flea market for $5.
It could fit my guitar transcriptions as plain text in about 1.5 MB of the 2 MB RAM.
The weirdest was that the color scheme reversed when using the backlight.

DrNefario · 12-08-2025, 04:59 AM

Various Palms for me, too. I probably still have a couple of them since I'm very bad at throwing things away. Rick Bram's DOC, followed by various attempts to improve on it, like CSpotRun and Mobipocket Reader. It wasn't close to being my main way of reading - just an emergency backup, like my phone now is - but I did read a few things on it.

12-02-2025, 05:42 PM	#1
tsgreer Buckminster Burkeswood Posts: 658 Karma: 1234567 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Colorado Device: BeBook (OpenInkpot), Ebookwise 1150, PocketBook	The 1930s Reading Machine That Predicted Ebooks 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 Last edited by tsgreer; 12-02-2025 at 07:37 PM.

12-02-2025, 07:13 PM	#2
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,574 Karma: 236124635 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One	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. Last edited by issybird; 12-02-2025 at 07:15 PM.

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12-07-2025, 03:33 AM	#4
Renate Onyx-maniac Posts: 4,171 Karma: 19000001 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: Nook NST, Glow2, 3, 4, '21, Kobo Aura2, Poke3, Poke5, Go6	Maybe we should have badges here like "My first ereader was a Palm Pilot." I can remember using microfiche for some newspaper search once. I don't think that I've ever used microfilm. There's still a lot of that stuff that has never been digitized.

12-08-2025, 12:10 AM	#6
Renate Onyx-maniac Posts: 4,171 Karma: 19000001 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: Nook NST, Glow2, 3, 4, '21, Kobo Aura2, Poke3, Poke5, Go6	I don't recall where my Palm III went to. I bought it around 2007 at a flea market for $5. It could fit my guitar transcriptions as plain text in about 1.5 MB of the 2 MB RAM. The weirdest was that the color scheme reversed when using the backlight.

12-08-2025, 04:59 AM	#7
DrNefario Wizard Posts: 2,232 Karma: 12030428 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch	Various Palms for me, too. I probably still have a couple of them since I'm very bad at throwing things away. Rick Bram's DOC, followed by various attempts to improve on it, like CSpotRun and Mobipocket Reader. It wasn't close to being my main way of reading - just an emergency backup, like my phone now is - but I did read a few things on it.