bkdelong

I had just graduated from college at UMass Amherst and was feeling full-of-myself, arrogant, naive and had no hesitation in reaching out to anyone regardless of their social stature.

So, of course, not having been well-read in Sci-Fi by any means I authored the following email to Douglas Adams:

>From: "B.K. DeLong" <bkdelong@naw.org>
>To: askdna@tdv.com
>Subject: Electronic Books
>Date: Fri, Jun 26, 1998, 22:42
>

>Hi Douglas,
>
>I just read an article about two companies producing book-size computers
>that would allow users to download full books off the Internet and read
>them almost like a normal book. Sound familiar?
>
>http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,23614,00.html
>
>I believe YOU invented the first electronic book if not in reality but in
>your book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in 1989. Have you
>attempted to make anything similar to the guide? I'd love to hear your
>thoughts on this matter for an article I'm doing on electronic books.
>
>Thanks and please be in touch.
>--
>B.K. DeLong

I'm pretty sure Mr. Adams was by far not the first to dream up the idea of the electronic book but I was aware of his passion for bringing them to reality.

To my shock and surprise, I received a response a day later:

Received: from ([192.168.0.10]) [158.152.16.102] by post.mail.demon.net with
 esmtp (Exim 1.82 #2) id 0ypxOw-0006ad-00; Sat, 27 Jun 1998 16:00:30 +0000
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 17:00:26 +0100
From: Douglas Adams <askdna@tdv.com>
Subject: Re: Electronic Books
To: "B.K. DeLong" <bkdelong@naw.org>
Cc: Robbie Stamp CEO TDV <robbie@tdv.com>, richardc@tdv.com, richardh@tdv.com

I have some ideas about how electronic books are going to develop. In
general terms they are bound to follow the pattern we've seen over and over
again in the computer industry - people will say they're about to arrive in
a big way and they won't happen, then people will say they're about to
arrive in a big way again and again they won't happen, then people will say
they're about to arrive in a big way again and again they won't, then
they'll suddenly arrive in a big way and catch everybody by surprise.
My company, The Digital Village is looking for the right hardware partner to
create an actual Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, since the time is almost
upon us that it can actually happen...

Best,

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Douglas Adams      |     The Digital Village     |    http://www.tdv.com
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                          STARSHIP TITANIC
                   <http://www.starshiptitanic.com>
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Alas, the launch of the Kindle was six years after his time. I think that would have been the "big way" he might have been talking about.