Electronic book sets new standard

Electronic book sets new standard

Up to 92,183 pages stored in one volume

By Nucharee Rakrun

A retired civil servant has devised an electronic book which he thinks may hold the largest content of any book in the world and which will be a candidate for the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sonchai Wutthachusilp, a 62-year-old pensioner, said an electronic book generally holds the content of only one book.

But his electronic book offers a reader a compilation of 949 books with a total of 92,183 pages, he said.

The content of his electronic book is mostly taken from school textbooks at prathom (secondary school) and mathayom (high school) levels plus a variety of books on general knowledge from the Education Ministry and the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry.

He started his electronic book project in 2004 and several copies have been donated to schools and public libraries to encourage children and members of the public to read more. The project was completed this year.

Mr Sonchai donated one of his e-books to a provincial public library in Nakhon Si Thammarat on Friday.

He said he bought copyrighted e-book system software for 120,000 baht to create his electronic book.

Mr Sonchai worked as an educational supervisor at the office of the Nakhon Si Thammarat education service Zone 1 before retirement in 2006.

An avid computer buff, he spent a lot of time reading up on technology and electronic equipment and never stops inventing new gadgets.

While in the civil service, Mr Sonchai received awards in recognition of his inventive mind, which helped develop learning and teaching materials.

He was given an honorary degree in science by Rajabhat Nakhon Si Thammarat University in 1999.