Precisely why individuals having books to read developed the modern world

Precisely why individuals having books to read developed the modern world

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Books, and the amount of people who might read them, have been absolutely vital to human development over the centuries.

It is essential to keep in mind that, although a lot of the best modern books of all time tend to be considered as ground-breaking works of fiction, for the majority of humanity's literary history, we did not compose much fiction at all. Most stories would have been sung throughout the great bulk of history, merely because the vast bulk of individuals might not read, indicating that the majority of books were specialised things meant for those few who could understand them. After a brief boom during the classical era of antiquity, the amount of literate individuals dropped dramatically during the Middle Ages. Books became rare treasures, with monks painstakingly copying out the surviving traditional texts by hand so as to protect them, as they were some 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 modern world.

It can be hard to imagine what the world would be like today if the vast bulk of individuals were unable to read, but for the large majority of history the vast majority of individuals might not, and nor were books available even if they could. It was the creation of the printing press towards the close of the 15th that altered that, making books a lot more accessible. Obviously, it was still only really the richest and well-read that could read or write, however it allowed a whole host of advancements in science, art, and thinking to be spread across great distances. Consider what would have happened if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have been dispersed around the world. Human civilisation rests upon a structure of books, and we are lucky to be able to simply log onto a site like the one backed by the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books, and quickly gain access to the totality of human knowledge.

With such a rich history of concepts, occasions, and stories right at our fingertips, it's in some cases easy to forget how incredibly 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 percentage of all the books that have ever been written (or the good ones at the very least). The best books of all time can quickly change the way that you take a look at the world, which has held true throughout all of history too. The contemporary world is built upon understanding that has been passed down through books, whether that is ideology, science, or history, and human civilisation would not be anywhere near as advanced as it is today if it had actually not been for the books that changed minds throughout the ages.