37 years after the beginnings of Project Gutenberg, Michael Hart describes himself as a workaholic who devotes his entire life to his project, because he thinks electronic books will become the "killer ap(plication)" of the computer revolution. He considers himself a pragmatic and farsighted altruist. For years he was regarded as a nut but now he is respected. He wants to change the world through freely-available books that can be used and copied endlessly. Reading and culture for everyone at minimal cost. Project Gutenberg's mission can be stated in eight words: "To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks," by everybody, and by every possible means. While implementing new ideas, new methods and new software. According to him, there might be 25 million books belonging to public domain in the main regional and national libraries in the world, without counting various editions. If Gutenberg allowed everyone to get print books at little cost, Project Gutenberg could allow everyone to get a library of electronic books at no cost on a cheap device like a USB drive. So far, in April 2008, 25,000 high-quality books were available for free. Let us give the last word to Michael, whom I asked in August 1998: "What is your best experience with the internet?" His answer was: "The notes I get that tell me people appreciate that I have spent my life putting books, etc., on the internet. Some are quite touching, and can make my whole day." Ten years later, he confirms that his answer would still be the same. 8. CHRONOLOGY [*1971/07 = year/month] 1971/07: Michael Hart keyed in The United States Declaration of Independence (eBook #1) and informed the first 100 internet users. Project Gutenberg was born. 1972: He keyed in The United States Bill of Rights (eBook #2). 1973: He keyed in The United States Constitution (eBook #5). 1974-88: He keyed in parts of the Bible and several works of Shakespeare. 1989/08: The King James Bible (eBook #10). 1991/01: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Caroll (eBook #11). 1991/06: Peter Pan, by James Barrie (eBook #16). 1991: Digitization of one book per month. 1992: Digitization of two books per month. 1993: Digitization of four books per month. 1993/12: Creation of three main sections: Light Literature, Heavy Literature, Reference Literature. 1994: Digitization of eight books per month. 1994/01: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (eBook #100). 1995: Digitization of 16 books per month. 1996-97: Digitization of 32 books per month. 1997/08: La Divina Commedia di Dante, in Italian (eBook #1000). 1997: Launching of Project Gutenberg Consortia Center (PGCC). 1998-2000: Digitization of 36 books per month. 1999/05: Don Quijote, by Cervantès, in Spanish (eBook #2000). 2000: Creation of Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF). 2000/10: Charles Franks started Distributed Proofreaders to assist Project Gutenberg.