Why individuals having books to read built the contemporary world

Why individuals having books to read built the contemporary world

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Never before have books been so available as they are today in the modern-day world; keep reading to find out more.

It is very important to bear 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 mankind's literary history, we did not compose much fiction at all. Most stories would have been sung throughout the great majority of history, simply because the vast majority of people could not read, meaning that most books were specialised things meant for those few who could understand them. After a brief boom throughout the classical period of antiquity, the quantity of literate people dropped considerably throughout the Middle Ages. Books ended up being uncommon treasures, with monks fastidiously copying out the enduring 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 all of us have access to in the modern-day world.

It can be tough to envision what the world would resemble today if the large majority of people were not able to read, but for the huge bulk of history the huge bulk of people could not, and nor were books accessible even if they could. It was the development of the printing press towards the close of the 15th that altered that, making books far more available. Obviously, it was still only really the wealthiest and well-read that could read or write, however it allowed a whole host of breakthroughs in science, art, and thinking to be spread out throughout great distances. Consider what would have occurred if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have been distributed 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 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 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 huge 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 held true throughout all of history also. The modern world is built on understanding that has been handed 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 not been for the books that changed minds throughout the ages.