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Ebooks have taken off and are here to stay. It used to be that ebooks had to be read on your desktop computer or printed out and read that way. You can still do that, but a number of companies have now brought us portable ebook readers. We can now tote literally thousands of books around with us in a small, thin and lightweight device. We can even choose to download the Bible on to it.
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The Chinese had been making paper and eventually books for centuries before it arrived in Europe. The person responsible for inventing the book making machine, in Europe, is Johann Gutenberg. It was invented around the year 1450 and it was this invention that laid the foundation for the commercial mass production of books.
The first book that Gutenberg produced on his machine was the Bible. Many people, including wealthy nobles took notice of the difference in the Gutenberg Bible (as it is known today) as compared to the hand written ones of the day. The success of printing meant that books soon became cheaper and thereby available to greater numbers of people. Unlike ever before, information was getting to people that helped to shape the way they thought about themselves and their culture.
People began to follow political debates that were written about and take part in matters that concerned them. As a consequence, the printed book became a tool to be controlled by those in power and thus censorship of the written word was born. Approximately 21 of the original Gutenberg Bibles have survived since that time and some are housed at the Gutenberg Museum.
Now let’s go to the year 1971 where the concept of storing, retrieving, cataloging and searching for information found in a library was first done digitally. A document was entered into what was a large computer that was known to have a tremendous memory for the time.
Today, it would be known as an extremely crude computer, but then this was very new and dramatic. The document that was chosen to be the first entered was the Declaration of Independence. So, there you have it… the very first ebook.
Those humble beginnings would become what is known as Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is a wonderful online resource that is kind of a spin off of the museum. Today Project Gutenberg is home to tens of thousands of free texts. Over 3,000,000 books are downloaded every month. Project Gutenberg is a wonderful online resource that is a spin off of the museum.
So if you are fascinated with the Bible and its history you may want to look into Project Gutenberg. If you want to download a Bible off the internet then there are dozens and dozens to choose from and almost all of them are free! As well, there are many audio recordings of ebooks including the Bible. Download the Bible straight to your iPod and you can choose the verse you want to listen to anytime you want.