The last revolution (until the next one) is swirling all around us at this moment – the invention, development and maturation of electronic publishing, a movement begun in the early seventies by a man named Michael Hart, inventor of the ebook. The electronic book has taken and is taking the world by storm.  Its emergence has caused a dramatic decline in the sales of printed books. Amazon now claims that they sell 20-percent more e-books than hardcover.  In the U.S.market, ebook sales increased 176-percent between 2008 and 2009, averaging an annual 71-percent annually over the last seven years.  If this average continues over the next seven years, ebooks will bring in about $13 billion a year.  And consumers have purchased some 80 million electronic devices, to read these books.

 While there are still many readers who prefer the tactile experience of reading the old-fashioned way, the ebook has many advantages over traditional printed publications.  In addition to text, the ebook has more images, full color, animation, even video and can use all the multi-image resources of the computer.  It doesn’t require external light, can be read at night in bed without disturbing a companion.  You can change fonts at will. Many have text to speech capability, can be translated via the internet, can be easily updated and edited.  Perhaps the most startling advantage is that ebooks make available a personal library of millions of information resources, a library that you can carry in your pocket.  Just as in the public library, you can search content by topic, title or author. And this personal library is never closed on holidays, nights or weekends.  The ebook reading device is also a portable bookstore at your fingertips.