Have you ever been reading a book and thought, “boy is this physically exhausting”? Neither have I.
But apparently those hard-toiling stoic Victorians did. Below is an image of John Carter’s “Literary Machine”:
That’s not entirely fair, though. John Carter’s furniture and other inventions were also intended to help the disabled read, eat, and move around.
But there was a trend in furniture at the time towards making furniture more comfortable, which was sorely needed, if you’ve ever seen Victorian furniture.
Personally, I’d like to use my Literary Machine in combination with this vibrating bed/couch thing:
The last great invention for readers was the Kindle, and that was 17 years ago.
Audiobooks with earbuds are great, too.
But we were promised that technological progress would actually give us more time to read. But where will we find time to read all the crap that AI is going to write for us when we’re toiling in their data mines 12 hours a day?
Here’s to you, John Carter, and your gift to those who love to read. We appreciate you.
- Joe
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