Goodbye, Michael Hart

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Michael Hart should have been more famous than he was. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say that he invented the e-book, but he had tons to do with developing it. He started Project Gutenberg, which is one of the first online repositories of public domain works online, and one of the largest as well. I have more Project Gutenberg files on my e-reader than I do of all other types combined, and I doubt I’m alone in that.

Michael hart died in his home on September 6. He was 64.


Brian Spears is Senior Poetry Editor of The Rumpus and the author of A Witness in Exile (Louisiana Literature Press, 2011). His poem “Upon Reading That Andromeda Will One Day Devour Triangulum and Come For Us Next” was featured in Season 9 of Motion Poems. More from this author →