The key reasons why people having books to read constructed the modern world

The key reasons why people having books to read constructed the modern world

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The world today is built upon a nearly incomprehensible amount of understanding that has been passed down in books.

It is very important to remember that, although lots of the best modern books of all time tend to be regarded as ground-breaking works of fiction, for the majority of humanity's literary history, we did not write much fiction at all. Most stories would have been sung throughout the great bulk of history, simply due to the fact that the vast bulk of people might not read, meaning that a lot of books were specialised things meant for those few who might understand them. After a quick boom during the classical age of antiquity, the amount of literate individuals dropped considerably during the Middle Ages. Books ended up being unusual treasures, with monks fastidiously copying out the surviving traditional texts by hand so as to preserve them, as they were some of the only members of the population who could read or write. They were the expert keepers of understanding like biology and religion that all of us have access to in the modern world.

With such an abundant history of concepts, events, and stories right at our fingertips, it's in some cases easy to forget how extremely fortunate 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 substantial proportion of all the books that have actually ever been written (or the good ones at least). The best books of all time can quickly change the way that you take a look at the world, which has been true throughout all of history too. The modern-day world is built upon understanding that has actually been handed 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.

It can be tough to picture what the world would resemble today if the huge majority of people were not able to read, but for the huge bulk of history the vast 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 a lot more available. Naturally, it was still just really the richest and well-read that could read or write, however it enabled a whole host of breakthroughs in science, art, and thinking to be spread throughout great distances. Consider what would have taken place if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have been distributed across the globe. Human civilisation rests upon a structure 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.