Books & Authors

Books

The word book comes from Old English ‘boc ’ meaning ‘writing or written document’. Though books can largely be classified in various genres, they’re broadly classified as fiction or non-fiction. Also, they can be classified according to the physical format, into hardcover and paperback. The most recently phenomena in the world of books are e-books.

E-Books

» Electronic Books are an electronic equivalent of printed books.
» The first e-Book readers-Rocket ebook and Softbook were introduced in 1998.
» E-Books have various advantages over printed books, like instant download of books, environmentally safer, take up lesser space, and portability.

Who is the creator of the first e-book in the world is a disputed and often controversial question! Index Thomisticus, an electronic index published in 1940s is usually considered as the first e-book. However, some dispute this fact as it was merely an index and not a complete published edition. In 1949, a teacher in Spain patented the first electronic book, as she wanted to decrease the number of books that pupils carried to the school. However, Michael S. Hart is usually considered the inventor of the e-book. Back in 1971, he created his first electronic document by typing the United States Declaration of Independence into a computer. Later, he launched the famous Project Gutenberg, which was the first project to make e-Books freely available via the internet.