Unlikely Technology: History In The Making
A book is anything that is written. It may not seem like it but in the past books were little more than clay cuneiform tablets, and scrolls.
When you hear someone speak of Technology what is the first thing that comes to mind? Your Apple smartphone? Maybe the laptop sitting beside you on the bed streaming the latest Netflix movie? In both instances you are indeed correct and I applaud you for being shrewd in discerning the distinction. What you may have overlooked though is one of the oldest and most revered forms of technology. A book. You may be hard pressed to dismiss the notion but hear me out.
If you Google the definition of technology it will proceed along the lines of “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes…”
A book is anything that is written. It may not seem like it but in the past books were little more than clay cuneiform tablets, scrolls in Egypt, jottings on beech barks or bamboo. Nothing like the soft cover romance novels you sit with and lounge sippin Moet to on a cool summer’s eve. Not even close.
If you went back to the 1930s when paperbacks first emerged you can get a stark glimpse of the future. The idea of an e-Reader or an e-book reader was outlined by the great Bob Brown. He proposed:
“The written word hasn’t kept up with the age… The movies have outmaneuvered it. We have the talkies, but as yet no Readies. To continue reading at today’s speed, I must have a machine. A simple reading machine which I can carry or move around, attach to any old electric light plug and read hundred-thousand-word novels in 10 minutes if I want to, and I want to…”
Bob Brown
In addition, audiobooks were also instituted to aid the blind in 1932. On each side of a vinyl there existed 15 minutes of audio read to those who couldn’t enjoy reading visually. Genius if you ask me! I think you are starting to see the scientific knowledge that went into creating books being applied for practical purposes, in this case in the form of mass communication.
Seems obvious today right? It took 40 years before Bob Brown’s vision ever came into reality in the form of the U.S Declaration of Independence when it was digitized for the first time. 1971 was technically the year of the first e-Book. That was the first year the first email was sent so you can tell it was bound to happen, Brown just did not have the means yet.
1998 was a year of firsts as well. That year e-Books were legitimized as consumable commodities. 2007 saw the birth of the Amazon Kindle, the first real popular device of its kind. The service built on the existing technology of books that gave readers more access through computer technology.
As we go forward it is quite interesting to see the permeation of books as the ancient technology manifests itself within the times. Pioneered in ancient Egypt, life as we know it would be devoid of history, of culture without its grace. Here we are, thousands of years later still building on that great concept. Whether on the go or at your local coffee shop you now have access to an unlikely technology. Use it.
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Very insightful, makes me wonder how online literature will evolve in the next decade or so.
O’shae , well done! This is very informative, good research.