From paper to pixels: the arrival of the e-reader

Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, once said: "Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book." For some, the pleasure of flipping through a paperback may never change, but pragmatism is starting to take hold. More people than ever are opting for e-books; the benefits of having a virtual library in your pocket outweigh the nostalgia for physical books. And although modern e-readers have been around in some form or another for over two decades, the evolution and adoption process has been a long and complex one. Join us as we take a look at some of the key moments in the e-reader's history.

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Mechanical Encyclopedia

Great ideas are born out of necessity, but the technology and funding aren't always there to see them to fruition. Such was the case with Angel Ruiz Robles' device conceived back in 1949. It was an idea to replace the back-breaking load of textbooks children had to haul around. The "Mechanical Encyclopedia" was a single, lightweight device for reading various scroll-like "books." It was visionary, but not quite practical and remains a single prototype.