The Kindle

In the 1440s, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press, the business of publishing began. For the first time, multiple copies of books could be printed quickly and disseminated widely. Information became available not only to the wealthy, who could afford to commission a hand-copied manuscript, but to anyone who could pay the moderate cost of a mechanically reproduced book. With the invention of the internet, digitized texts, and electronic reading devices, the book business in the 2000s is undergoing a transformation not seen since Gutenberg. In particular, the Kindle, a portable electronic reading device sold by online retailer Amazon.com, is said to be changing the experience of reading, because it makes books instantly available, it can hold hundreds of books in one lightweight device, and it closely simulates the visual and aesthetic pleasures of reading a traditional book. The Kindle promises to make the book business more complex, because it changes both the p