Ways people reading books proliferated knowledge

Ways people reading books proliferated knowledge

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Our capability to gain access to and read books has been absolutely essential to our capability to understand the world around us.

It can be difficult to envision what the world would be like today if the large bulk of individuals were not able to read, but for the large bulk of history the vast majority of individuals could not, and nor were books accessible even if they could. It was the creation of the printing press towards the close of the 15th that altered that, making books much more accessible. Obviously, it was still just really the richest and well-read that could read or write, however it enabled a whole host of developments in science, art, and thinking to be spread out across great distances. Consider what would have occurred if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have actually been dispersed across the globe. Human civilisation rests upon a foundation of books, and we are lucky to be able to merely log onto a site like the one backed by the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books, and easily access the totality of human understanding.

It is necessary to remember that, although plenty of the best modern books of all time tend to be considered ground-breaking works of fiction, for the majority of mankind's literary history, we did not write much fiction at all. Most stories would have been sung throughout the great majority of history, just since the huge bulk of individuals could not read, meaning that many books were specialised things meant for those few who might comprehend them. After a quick boom throughout the classical era of antiquity, the amount of literate individuals dropped significantly during the Middle Ages. Books became unusual treasures, with monks meticulously copying out the enduring timeless texts by hand so as to maintain them, as they were a few of the only members of the populace who could read or write. They were the specialist keepers of knowledge like biology and religion that we all have access to in the contemporary world.

With such a rich history of ideas, events, and stories right at our fingertips, it's sometimes easy to forget how incredibly lucky we are to have the likes of the founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones or the CEO of the asset manager with a stake in Amazon books supporting access to a big percentage of all the books that have ever been written (or the good ones at least). The best books of all time can easily change the way that you look at the world, and that has held true throughout all of history too. The modern-day world is built on understanding that has actually been passed down through books, whether that is philosophy, science, or history, and human civilisation would not be anywhere near as advanced as it is today if it had not been for the books that changed minds across the ages.