Reading into the Future
Back then, when you said you wanted to bring reading materials with you, that meant that you had to bring an actual book with you. That was at least 300 pages worth of easily destroyable paper that you had to keep safe in your bag or briefcase. There had to be a way to store books such that they took up as little space as possible, while at the same time were easily accessible. This was the need that the invention of electronic books, otherwise known as e-books, tried to satisfy.
Digital Literature
Electronic books offered those advantages and much more. These digital versions of real books became big hits with the customers because they were easily storable, very portable (imagine storing around 500 books on a single compact disc instead of having to carry them individually) and offered a whole host of conveniences such as automated bookmarking and adjustable fonts. Electronic books needed no special hardware aside from a computer and the e-book reading software given by the retailer, although numerous handheld e-book readers are now available on the market and personal data assistants (PDAs) have also proven to be great at serving...