Precisely why people having books to read constructed the contemporary world

Precisely why people having books to read constructed the contemporary world

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Our capability to gain access to and read books has been definitely vital to our ability to comprehend the world around us.

It can be difficult to envision what the world would be like today if the vast bulk of individuals were not able to read, but for the large bulk of history the huge majority of people might not, and nor were books available even if they could. It was the invention of the printing press towards the close of the 15th that changed that, making books far more available. Of course, it was still only truly the wealthiest and well-educated that could read or write, but it allowed an entire host of breakthroughs in science, art, and thinking to be spread 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 fortunate 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 knowledge.

It is very important to bear in mind that, although plenty of the best modern books of all time tend to be regarded as ground-breaking works of fiction, for most of humankind's literary history, we did not compose much fiction at all. The majority of stories would have been sung throughout the great bulk of history, simply because the vast majority of people might not read, indicating that the majority of books were specialised things meant for those few who might comprehend them. After a brief boom during the classical era of antiquity, the amount of literate individuals dropped drastically throughout the Middle Ages. Books ended up being uncommon treasures, with monks fastidiously copying out the enduring timeless texts by hand so as to maintain them, as they were a few of the only members of the population who could read or write. They were the specialist keepers of knowledge like biology and religion that we all have access to in the modern 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 huge proportion of all the books that have ever been written (or the good ones at least). The best books of all time can easily alter the manner in which you take a look at the world, which has actually held true throughout all of history also. The contemporary world is built upon knowledge that has 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 throughout the ages.