A lively and definitive insider’s history of the rise of e-books.
Curtis, literary agent and founder of E-Reads publishing, offers a history of the digital revolution in the publishing industry.
In his latest book, the author charts the development of e-books and e-reading from the earliest days in the early 1990s, when it briefly looked as if e-literature would be relegated to primitive cell phones and Palm Pilots. In 1998, the clunky SoftBook and Rocket eBook both faced the same obstacle: “The world simply wasn’t ready to embrace the precipitous transformation from printed books.” Curtis braids his account of the slow rise of e-readers with a history of other revolutions that rocked the publishing world in earlier eras, including the introduction of mass market paperbacks and, later, larger trade paperbacks. He links these to the story of his own company, which embraced e-reading, and its dealings with authors—many of whom, fittingly enough, were SF writers; the book includes the author’s fond memories of Dan Simmons, Elizabeth Lynn, and Greg Bear. “Although the e-book revolution bestowed countless blessings and benefits on humanity, it also unleashed a Pandora’s Box of vexations,” Curtis writes, dwelling at length on some of these troubles, including questions of copyright and piracy. The historical element of the book, which is amply supported by endnotes, leads inexorably to the 2007 release of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, and the author thoroughly describes the meteoric rise of this now-ubiquitous device and its first serious dips in its sales, nearly a decade later. All of this is presented in authoritative detail, breaking down earnings, risks, and industry concerns over two chaotic decades of transformation.
“As happens in so many revolutionary enterprises over time,” the author reflects, “the free spirit of independence became more formalized…as former rebels expressed the need for structure and standards, and for recognition by the public.” This elegiac tone permeates much of the book’s second half, as the short-lived boom in e-books comes to an end and Curtis sells E-Reads. Thanks to his natural storytelling gifts and deft pacing, readers get an insider’s view of the era, its major developments, and the pitfalls of e-reading technology. The author allows that the e-book phenomenon did “cast a beam of hope” in some corners of the book world, giving older works a chance to find some new consumers. However, although the bulk of his book is an engaging narrative of an industry embroiled in unpredictable change, the final notes on the rise of artificial intelligence sound a decidedly grim note, discounting the power of integrity or pride of achievement: “It is hard to imagine why a student or scholar would ever again produce an original book report, term paper or research treatise….From there, it’s an easy jump to AI-assisted creation of literature.” Still, the gloom of these predictions is considerably softened by the vivacity of the story Curtis tells in the earlier pages—of innovators and dreamers, and of readers seeking authenticity in electronic venues. Fortunately, that ray of hope still shines.
A lively and definitive insider’s history of the rise of e-books.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781953943736
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Rivertowns Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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