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Paradigm Shifts

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PARADIGM SHIFTS: PAPERBACKS TO E-BOOKS. A paradigm shift is a change from one way of thinking or doing to another. Thomas Kuhn wrote in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolution published in 1962, that scientific advancement is not evolutionary, but rather is a “series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions”, and in those revolutions “one conceptual world view is replaced by another” It doesn’t just happen, but is driven by agents of change. In this paper I will look at the shift from paperback books to e-books or e-readers. Paperback books have been around for over a thousand years. The first paperback book was said to have been published in the 6th century during the Tang dynasty in china. Before that books were written on pieces of paper and sewn or lashed together with twine or leather. Horace mentioned booksellers in ancient Rome. Publishing books arose out of the need to make copies of manuscripts and other religious articles. The first real movable set printing was invented in the middle of the 14th century by Johann Gutenberg. He is most famous for the Gutenberg bible, which he completed between 1450 and 1455. Early documentation says that a total of 200 copies were printed on rag cotton linen paper, and 30 copies on velum animal skin. It’s not exactly known how many copies were actually printed. By the middle of the 15th century mass publishing and printing had taken off in Europe. The Elzevir family of Holland was the first important publishing house in Europe. They published books from 1580 to 1712, when they ceased operations. By the 1800s’ printing had really taken off. In 1814 Fredrick Koenig designed the first high speed non man powered machine using steam. Shortly after that, Koenig and his partner Andreas Friedrich sold their first model to The Times and the first issue of the paper was printed.

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