The way individuals reading books expanded knowledge

The way individuals reading books expanded knowledge

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

It is essential to bear in mind that, although plenty of the best modern books of all time tend to be considered as ground-breaking works of fiction, for most of humankind's literary history, we did not compose much fiction at all. Many stories would have been sung throughout the great bulk of history, simply since the huge majority of individuals might not read, implying that the majority of books were specialised things meant for those few who could understand them. After a quick boom during the classical age of antiquity, the quantity of literate individuals dropped drastically throughout the Middle Ages. Books became unusual treasures, with monks fastidiously copying out the surviving traditional texts by hand so as to maintain them, as they were some of the only members of the populace who were able to read or write. They were the specialist 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 simple to forget how exceptionally 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 substantial proportion 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 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 tough to imagine what the world would be like today if the large bulk of individuals were unable to read, but for the vast majority of history the vast majority of individuals 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 much more accessible. Obviously, it was still just actually the wealthiest and well-read that could read or write, but it enabled a whole host of advancements in science, art, and thinking to be spread out throughout great distances. Consider what would have taken place if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have actually 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 website 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.