Type Me a Story

1927 Coin Operated Typewriter

Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 on a coin operated typewriter in 1950. A coin operated typewriter! One complicated mechanical contrivance piled on another! All these complicated, precision, mechanical devices are being replaced by electronic gee-gaws. In 100 years they'll all be gone. In a thousand years there won't be any evidence that they ever existed, which tends to support my theory that all the paintings on the walls of the tombs of the ancient Egyptians are really flat panel displays that froze when they ran out of juice.

Writing the first draft of the novel cost Ray $10, which according to the government inflation calculator would be roughly the same as $100 today. Since the government has no idea what the real fate of inflation is, or they are lying, I'm going to say it's more like $200. So, not a pittance, but if you're serious, doable.

The linked story suffers from rigid formatting and a tiny typeface. Blow it up (with Ctrl+) so it's big enough to read and the page is too wide to fit on the screen. I copied the text into a blogger page. You can find it here.