A
Message From Michael Hart:
Will
The First Trillion Dollar Charity Be Electronic Public Libraries?
What
were the hottest news stories 100 years ago?
100
years ago one of the hottest stories was the start of a new
public library system by Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest
men in the world who was trying to change his image from robber
baron to philanthropist in much the same way as Bill Gates
is doing today.
The
changes made by the public library system, hand in hand with
grade schools through colleges, have been so enormous that
it is hard to get a perspective on the fact the odds are about
10 times as great today a person will get a college education
as it was 100 years ago.
In
the next census, you will find that about 30% of people are
getting a college education and many more are getting advanced
degrees because of something as simple as learning to read
at an early age.
From
Children Born in 1900 to Children Born in 2000
The
hottest item in thousands of towns 100 years ago were libraries!!!
Millions
of people who had never even owned a book before Sears mailed
them their first, now had an entire library they could get
books from!
Today,
right in front of our eyes, but largely ignored by the media's,
and our own, predilection with, guess what, the media, we
have similar changes happening that can already bring ONE
MILLION electronic eBooks to anyone who chooses to download
them, free of any payments.
Today
There Are 1 Million Free Electronic Books On The Internet
In
large part, this is the result of efforts by Project Gutenberg,
and their 50,000+ volunteers, who have been creating just
such collections of electronic library materials starting
two decades before their word "Internet" ever appeared
on the front page or cover story of any major modern media
outlet. [The Wall St. Journal, 10/29/91]
Today
Project Gutenberg has been joined by The World Public Library
and Digital Pulp Publishing, Internet Archive, along with
Jim Baen [R.I.P.], in the creation
of The World eBook Fair which hopes to bring you, and everyone
else, a downloadable collection of 1/2 million eBooks in October,
in honor of, what else, International Book Fair Month. Most
of these eBooks are to be given away free of charge, but as
requested by readers of The First World eBook Fair, more modern,
and thus commercial, eBooks are to be a feature of The Second
World eBook Fair.
The
greatest satisfaction I have ever received from my decades
of work to create this new medium are from the notes I receive
that tell me of people who would never have read the great
works if we had not made an electronic library available where
they could get them in one second-- then read them for the
rest of their lives--all free of any charges.
A
Trillion Dollars Worth Of Books?
Project
Gutenberg has over 100,000 electronic books available, and
the target audience they have in mind is 1.5% of the world
in this decade, and 15% of the world in the next decade.
Don't
laugh, 15% of the world is already on the Internet now. .
. .
However,
even at only 1.5%, that is 100 million people.
Just
1/2 of the current United States population. . . .
If
we get the average one of those 100,000 eBooks to those 100,000,000
people we are targeting. . .that is TEN TRILLION eBOOKS!!!
Can
you find anyone else even TRYING to give that much away???
If you think education is expensive, try eBooks!
Project
Gutenberg has never received even one million dollars in total
donations over all these years yet has given away ONE TRILLION
dollars worth of eBooks at just 10 cents a copy for 10 trillion
eBooks.
Visit
The World eBook Fair Starting, July 4, 2008 at:
http://WorldeBookFair.org
