Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg has become a huge, web accessible library. Unfortunately, I could not find any way to use it as a literary reference library. It is ripe for some specialized browsing mechanism, created for the purpose. What I have in mind is a front end catalog reference tool, that is roughly like a cross referenced card catalog that can be browsed and searched.
The back end of the program would download and present books on one's screen allowing bookmarks, annotations, speech simulation, etc. It could also maintain a local library that could be scanned for words and phrases.
It would be a good Delphi Project.
Lamentably, the probable reason it hasn't already been done is that people don't read much anymore, especially not classics. I looked in PG for Aeschelus, and Aristophenes. I couldn't find anything. I must have been searching incorrectly.
Another reason is that the PG people all seem to be librarians. They are interesting in creating archives of books for public consumption, but they don't seem to be able to organize things ergonomically.
by Jim Knock
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