The first typewriter I owned was the style that had the round letter keys that you had to push all the way down until the letter hit the paper.... Not really, I just had a cheap regular typewriter and there was nothing special about it.
I really enjoyed the James Kalmbach reading of Publishing before computers.Greece, wow that was well... a long time ago. There must of been a real good reason for someone, anyone to invent the original languages... like taking a message to someone else... hmm. This make me consider why...Matters of state, maybe so they could send a message everyone could understand. Well, another reason is the shortage of ink in drawing all those cryptic pictures that made them do it... The Greeks and the Romans must of had their reasons to communicate, for war or to send a message that they were about to go to war. But maybe that was not the main meaning of the text that was read. Kalmbach's story about how it was necessary to have words on paper rather than stone. I think it would have been easier writing on paper than stone and the use of the lithographic presses were not widely used until after World War II" and writing words on paper is much easier than stone. (Kalmbach - Lithograph)
The patent of the typewriter in the 17 hundreds was the smartest thing that could of been accomplished in their time, because of the presence that writing had, the printing machine made typography and communicating so much easier. I have friends that have lithographs of prints and their value is above my pay grade, but this is not to say that I would not want to own one, (I would) it is just not the style of prints that I would formally purchase. Despite these advantages, but it was important to use that style of printing way back in the 17th century, because that is all they came up with. I think it was pretty innovative considering what materials that they had to work with. Today, we would never use stone to send a message, but we still use stone to leave a message. "Here lies John Smith who was a good man, loving husband and doting father" Year birth, year death. The standard for its use is grave sites because it lasts and lasts. Sure the hardbound book is going to be easier to carry and store, but computers have changed the way we keep track with all that in the Digital World that we live in.
The history lesson that Kalmbach tells is very interesting because it shares with us just how feeble our writing system really is. Over the century's, our writing language has changed with the technology. I know what this means, because I have to update my reference books for proper English and it gets expensive. But it would and is a heck of a lot easier down loading the book to my computer or if I have storage issues, I just fork out about 20 dollars and purchase an eight gigabyte flash drive and open the book onto my computer when I need to read.
Yeah, I like to read. And I enjoy it a lot more having not to lug that hefty book and paper around with me. Sorry inventors of the printing press, but I like not having to shred everything and burning up another shredder... Another thing is now that we have a global crisis with GHG's (greenhouse gas), we need all the trees we can grow! I mean, I know we can go without water for awhile, and food too, BUT NO AIR. I think this idea of the electronic book is already in the go stage. Heck, just send me the book so I can put it on a flash drive!
Kalmbauch, James R. Publishing Before Computers Lithography.
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