Ways in which people reading books expanded knowledge

Ways in which people reading books expanded knowledge

Blog Article

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

It is essential to bear in mind that, although lots of the best modern books of all time tend to be considered as ground-breaking works of fiction, for most of mankind's literary history, we did not write much fiction at all. A lot of stories would have been sung throughout the great bulk of history, just due to the fact that the vast bulk of individuals could not read, suggesting that most books were specialised things meant for those few who might comprehend them. After a brief boom throughout the classical era of antiquity, the amount of literate people dropped dramatically during the Middle Ages. Books ended up being rare treasures, with monks meticulously copying out the enduring classic texts by hand so as to protect them, as they were a few of the only members of the populace who could read or write. They were the professional keepers of knowledge like biology and religious beliefs that all of us have access to in the modern world.

With such a rich history of concepts, occasions, and stories right at our fingertips, it's sometimes easy to forget how exceptionally 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 look at the world, which has actually been true throughout all of history as well. The contemporary world is built on understanding 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 actually not been for the books that changed minds throughout the ages.

It can be hard to imagine what the world would be like today if the large bulk of individuals were not able to read, but for the vast majority of history the large bulk of individuals might not, and nor were books accessible even if they could. It was the innovation of the printing press towards the close of the 15th that changed that, making books a lot more available. Naturally, it was still only really the richest and well-educated that could read or write, but it allowed an entire host of developments in science, art, and thinking to be spread out across great distances. Consider what would have happened if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have been distributed 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 quickly gain access to the totality of human understanding.