““Back in my cabin I asked the library computer for hard copy of Chapter One, but instead of getting something out of a slot, I was answered by "Press READY on slate." There was a thin, blank, white panel, the size of a sheet of office stationery, resting on a frame at the console. Indeed it had a small square marked READY on its corner, and when I pressed it the panel displayed the title, author, and so on in black on white, various data-search key words, and the phrase, BOOK LOADED. I found that from then on I could take that "slate" anywhere and have it display any page of the book on command. The display was a liquid crystal, and evidently the slate's memory was capable of storing more than a hundred thousand words.””
