Michael Stern Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects.
Hart often told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks. He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart’s life’s work, spanning over 40 years.
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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. —With the October 23 issue of the New York Times Paperback Non-fiction Bestseller List, 90 Minutes in Heaven, written by Don Piper, celebrates 3 years—156 consecutive weeks—on the list, with 114 weeks at or above number ten. The book charts on this week’s list at number eleven. Defying traditional paths onto the list, the book first entered the list more than three years after it was first published. 
