對于邁克爾·斯特恩·哈特（1947～2011）這個人，你可能還不太熟悉。但是在電子界，他可是個舉足輕重的人物。早在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)普及之前，邁克爾·斯特恩·哈特就發(fā)起了“古登堡計劃”，讓人們經(jīng)由計算機獲得免費的電子書籍，可謂當(dāng)之無愧的”電子書之父“。在自己的個人網(wǎng)頁上，他寫道：“如果你昨天所做的事情在今天看來依舊很了不起，那么你為明天設(shè)定的目標(biāo)仍然不夠宏偉?！保↖f what you did yesterday still seems great today， then your goals for tomorrow are not big enough.）哈特的遠見卓識、不懈努力和堅定信念使電子書走入了大眾的日常生活，也讓掃除文盲和建立信息共享成為現(xiàn)實。下文就讓我們走近邁克爾·斯特恩·哈特，了解這個用電子科技造福世人的人。

Michael Stern Hart was a burly1 rebel whose vision of a literate society led him to pioneer the electronic book decades before the spread of the Internet.

Hart was a freshman at the University of Illinois in 1971 when he was granted free access to the campus enormous mainframe computer2. He was uncertain how to use the valuable computer time until inspiration struck in the form of a reproduction of the Declaration of Independence that had been stuffed in his grocery bag as part of a Fourth of July promotion.

He keyed the historic text into the computer system， which linked 100 users at elite institutions such as Harvard， UCLA and the Department of Defense. It was downloaded by six members of this pre-Internet network， which was encouragement enough for Hart to continue.

He transmitted the Bill of Rights， the Constitution， the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. Forty years later， Project Gutenberg， named after the inventor of the Gutenberg printing press3， is one of the oldest online collections of literature， offering more than 33，000 free books in 60 languages. The vast majority are public domain， and all are digitized by volunteers scattered around the globe.

Hart was “an ardent technologist and futurist，” said Newby， a University of Alaska computer scientist. Long before the invention of personal computers and electronic readers， “he predicted that information contained in books and other media would surround us and be freely available.”

Others compared him to publishing pioneers such as Barney Rosset4， who championed intellectual freedom through Grove Press， which published controversial authors such as D. H. Lawrence5 and Henry Miller6. “What Barney Rosset， legendary founder of Grove Press， was to the printed book， Michael Hart was for the digital book： animated by an unremitting7 vision， idiosyncratic8 but immensely capable，” independent publisher Richard E. Nash said.

A self-described “cyber-hippie，” Hart was born in Tacoma， Wash.， on March 8， 1947. His father was a Shakespeare scholar and his mother a mathematician.

Before going to college， he was a street musician in San Francisco and served a stint9 in the Army. He studied briefly at Dartmouth College before entering the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1971. An obstreperous10 student who enjoyed challenging his professors， he graduated in two years with the highest grades.

To support himself and Project Gutenberg， he held a variety of odd jobs， including installing and repairing hi-fi stereos. His enthusiasm for the future of electronic publishing won him a non-paying appointment at Illinois Benedictine College， which provided him standing to solicit11 donations for his literacy project.

He rarely collected a salary from Project Gutenberg， according to Newby， who described Hart in an online tribute as “frugal12 to a fault13.”

“He used home remedies rather than seeing doctors. He fixed his own house and car. He built many computers， stereos and other gear， often from discarded components，” Newby wrote.

He also was a skillful garage sale14 scavenger15， whose house， according to a friend， was “a cross16 between a trash heap and a museum.”

Project Gutenberg grew slowly during its first 18 years. By August 1989 it had completed its 10th e-book， the King James translation of the Bible. A few years later， he typed in Lewis Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland， which brought an epiphany17. He was talking to a friend on the telephone when her 11-year-old invited some friends over to read Alice on their computer. When they all tried to squeeze in front of the monitor on one chair， it broke into pieces and they crashed to the floor. But they wanted to keep reading.

When Hart heard about the incident， “the light went on in my head.” He began concentrating on converting literary texts to e-books， convinced that the future of literature was electronic. From that day forward， “any time anyone owed me a favor，” he recalled in a 1996 article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram， “it was， ‘Here， type in some Hamlet.”

The online collection grew exponentially over the next two decades， fulfilling an expansive range of reading tastes. The most-read book is The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana with more than 25，000 downloads， followed by The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes， with more than 18，000 downloads. Project Gutenberg also releases collections on free CDs and DVDs.

In 1998， Wired magazine named Hart to its “Wired 25，” a list of people around the world who were “actively， even hyperactively， inventing tomorrow.”

Hart had his critics. He was often disparaged18 by academics， who complained of typographical and other errors in Project Gutenberg books. He was not beloved in the traditional publishing world， which he often attacked for profiting on the works of long-dead writers. He disapproved of U.S. copyright laws， which keep popular works out of the public domain for decades after an author has died.

Hart dismissed his critics attacks.

“Im not doing this to make the academic community happy，” he told the Chicago Tribune in 1999. He aimed to serve the masses. “I am a revolutionary in this neo-industrial revolution. Thats why they have trouble with me19. How can anyone be troubled by free information？”

邁克爾·斯特恩·哈特身材魁梧，是個突破社會常規(guī)的叛逆者，他在頭腦中構(gòu)建了一個全民都能讀書識字的社會，這個想法引領(lǐng)他早在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)普及數(shù)十年之前就開啟了電子書的先河。

1971年，哈特在伊利諾伊大學(xué)讀一年級，作為新生的他獲得了該校大型計算機的免費使用權(quán)。起初，他并不清楚該如何利用這一使用計算機的寶貴時機，直到有一天，一份翻印的《獨立宣言》忽然給了他靈感。這份翻印文件是商家在獨立紀(jì)念日搞促銷時發(fā)放的，被他塞在了購物袋里。

他將這部具有重大歷史意義的文本鍵入計算機系統(tǒng)，這一系統(tǒng)連接了包括哈佛大學(xué)、加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校、國防部等精英機構(gòu)的一百名用戶。后來，該網(wǎng)絡(luò)系統(tǒng)（互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的前身）上有六名用戶下載了這本書，這已足以鼓舞哈特繼續(xù)堅持下去了。

他又陸續(xù)上傳了《人權(quán)法案》、《憲法》、《圣經(jīng)》以及莎士比亞的作品。40年后，以古登堡印刷機發(fā)明人命名的“古登堡計劃”成為歷史最悠久的文獻收集網(wǎng)站之一，該網(wǎng)站可供免費下載的書籍達33，000多部，涵蓋60種語言。絕大多數(shù)書籍都屬于公有領(lǐng)域，全部由遍布世界各地的志愿者進行數(shù)字化處理。

阿拉斯加大學(xué)計算機科學(xué)家紐比說，哈特是“一位熱情的技術(shù)專家和未來學(xué)家”。遠在個人電腦和電子閱讀器發(fā)明之前，“他就預(yù)測，書籍和其他媒體中所含的知識將會與我們形影不離，并且可免費獲得”。

還有人把哈特與巴尼·羅塞特等出版業(yè)先驅(qū)相提并論。為了捍衛(wèi)知識分子的自由，巴尼·羅塞特創(chuàng)辦了格羅夫出版社，出版了諸如D. H. 勞倫斯、亨利·米勒等有爭議性作家的作品?！斑~克爾·哈特之于電子書，就像格羅夫出版社的傳奇式創(chuàng)始人巴尼·羅塞特之于紙質(zhì)書：在堅定理想的驅(qū)使下有所作為，特立獨行，卻又無所不能?！豹毩⒊霭嫔汤聿榈隆·納什如此說道。

哈特自稱“網(wǎng)絡(luò)嬉皮士”。他1947年3月8日出生于華盛頓州的塔科馬，父親是一位從事莎士比亞研究的學(xué)者，母親是一位數(shù)學(xué)家。

上大學(xué)前，哈特在舊金山做過街頭音樂人，也曾在陸軍服過一段時間的兵役。1971年，在達特茅斯學(xué)院短暫就讀之后，他進入伊利諾伊大學(xué)厄巴納——尚佩恩分校學(xué)習(xí)。那時的哈特是一個不服管束的學(xué)生，喜歡挑戰(zhàn)教授的權(quán)威，兩年后他以最優(yōu)異的成績從這里畢業(yè)。

為了維持生計和“古登堡計劃”的正常運行，他打過五花八門的零工，包括安裝和修理高保真立體聲音響設(shè)備。他對電子出版的未來所抱的熱情為他在伊利諾伊本篤會學(xué)院謀得了一個沒有薪水的職位，這個職位使他能夠以合適的身份為自己的掃盲計劃爭取捐助。

據(jù)紐比稱，哈特幾乎從來沒有從“古登堡計劃”中拿到過報酬。紐比在網(wǎng)上發(fā)表的一篇悼詞中描述，哈特“節(jié)儉得都過了頭”。

“他用家庭秘方治病而不是去看醫(yī)生。他自己修繕房子，修理汽車。他組裝了許多電腦、立體聲音響和其他設(shè)備，組裝的原件往往用的是廢棄的零部件?！奔~比寫道。

他還是一位收藏舊貨的行家里手，據(jù)他的一位朋友說，他的房子簡直就是“垃圾堆和博物館的結(jié)合體”。

“古登堡計劃”在前18年里的發(fā)展較為緩慢。1989年8月，它完成了其第十部電子書——詹姆士國王欽定版《圣經(jīng)》。幾年之后，哈特錄入了路易斯·卡羅爾的《愛麗絲夢游仙境》，這本書給他帶來了醍醐灌頂?shù)母杏X。有一次他和朋友正在通電話，此時朋友11歲大的孩子邀請了一些朋友在家里的電腦上閱讀《愛麗絲》。孩子們爭先恐后地想坐到屏幕前的一張椅子上，結(jié)果椅子一下子散了架，他們摔到了地板上。但孩子們?nèi)韵虢又x下去。

當(dāng)哈特聽說此事后，頓感“腦中靈光一現(xiàn)”。他開始專注于把文學(xué)作品的文本轉(zhuǎn)錄成電子書，深信未來文學(xué)將走向電子化。從那以后，“每當(dāng)有人欠我人情的時候，”他在《沃思堡明星電訊報》1999年的一篇文章中回憶道，“我就說，‘那就來幫我錄入一段《哈姆雷特》吧?！?/p>

在接下來的20年里，網(wǎng)絡(luò)電子書的數(shù)量呈指數(shù)級增長，滿足了日益擴大的各類閱讀品味的需求。其中被閱讀次數(shù)最多的書是《愛之經(jīng)》，下載量超過2.5萬次；其次是《福爾摩斯探案集》，下載量超過1.8萬次。此外“古登堡計劃”還發(fā)行了免費的CD版和DVD版的電子書合集。

1998年，《連線》雜志將哈特列入其“連線25人”排行榜，進入排行榜的人來自世界各地，這些人都“積極甚至過度積極地創(chuàng)造著未來”。

哈特也曾遭到過批評。他常常受到專業(yè)學(xué)者的貶損，他們抱怨“古登堡計劃”推出的電子書存在打字和其他方面的錯誤。傳統(tǒng)出版業(yè)界也不喜歡他，因為他經(jīng)常抨擊他們靠早已作古的作家的作品營利。他不贊同美國的版權(quán)法，因為這些法律使得一些受歡迎的作品在其作者死后幾十年內(nèi)仍無法進入公有領(lǐng)域。

哈特并沒有理會那些批評的聲音。

1999年，他對《芝加哥論壇報》說：“我所做的并不是為了讓學(xué)術(shù)界感到高興。”他的宗旨是服務(wù)大眾?！拔沂沁@次新工業(yè)革命中的一名革命者，這才是他們與我為敵的原因。除此之外，誰會與免費信息過不去呢？”

注釋

1. burly adj. 魁梧的，強壯結(jié)實的

2. mainframe computer：[計]主計算機；大型計算機

3. inventor of the Gutenberg printing press：古登堡印刷機的發(fā)明人，即約翰內(nèi)斯·古登堡（Johannes Gutenberg， 1398～1468），德國人，西方活字印刷術(shù)的發(fā)明人。他的發(fā)明導(dǎo)致了一次媒界革命，迅速地推動了西方科學(xué)和社會的發(fā)展。

4. Barney Rosset：巴尼·羅塞特（1922～2012），生于美國芝加哥，是格羅夫出版社創(chuàng)辦人，也是《查泰萊夫人的情人》（Lady Chatterleys Lover）、《北回歸線》（Tropic of Cancer）等禁書的出版人。

5. D. H. Lawrence：D. H. 勞倫斯（1885～1930），英國作家，是20世紀(jì)英語文學(xué)中最重要的人物之一，也是最具爭議性的作家之一。主要成就包括小說、詩歌、戲劇、散文、游記和書信。代表作品有《兒子與情人》（Sons and Lovers）、《戀愛中的女人》（Women in Love）、《查泰萊夫人的情人》等。

6. Henry Miller：亨利·米勒（1891～1980），美國“垮掉派”作家，是20世紀(jì)美國乃至世界最重要的作家之一，同時也是最富有個性又極具爭議的文學(xué)大師。代表作品有《北回歸線》、《黑色的春天》（Black Spring）、《南回歸線》（Tropic of Capricorn）等。

7. unremitting adj. 不松懈的

8. idiosyncratic adj. （行為、習(xí)性、愛好等）個人特有的；獨特的

9. stint n. （在某地的）工作時間

10. obstreperous adj. 不服約束的，不守秩序的

11. solicit vt. 請求給予

12. frugal adj. 節(jié)儉的；花錢少的

13. to a fault：過分地，過頭地

14. garage sale：（在宅前尤其是車庫里進行的）舊貨出售

15. scavenger n. 撿垃圾者，拾破爛者

16. cross n. 混合物

17. epiphany n. 對現(xiàn)實真諦的頓悟或洞察

18. disparage vt. 蔑視，貶損

19. have trouble with sb.：和某人有矛盾