poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2008-05-05 10:28 am

Project Gutenberg

I want to read Balzac's Seraphita. Unfortunately it's not in print. Once upon a time I'd have had to hunt through secondhand bookshops- possibly for years. These days all I have to do is go to Project Gutenburg, tap in Balzac and there it is- along with lots of other unobtainable titles. Then I go plink, plink, plink and the printer goes whazoom, whazoom, whazoom and- look- I'm holding a hard copy in my hands.

Having been born in a decade that was- technologically and morally- closer to the 19th century than the 21st, I shall never cease to marvel at these things.