Why the best books are greater than just stories

Why the best books are greater than just stories

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Books, and the quantity of people who might read them, have actually been absolutely essential to human advancement over the centuries.

It is essential to keep in mind that, although lots of the best modern books of all time tend to be considered ground-breaking works of fiction, for the majority of mankind's literary history, we did not compose much fiction at all. The majority of stories would have been sung throughout the great bulk of history, merely due to the fact that the huge bulk of individuals might not read, suggesting that most books were specialised things meant for those few who could understand them. After a brief boom during the classical era of antiquity, the quantity of literate people dropped dramatically throughout the Middle Ages. Books ended up being uncommon treasures, with monks fastidiously copying out the enduring timeless texts by hand so as to maintain them, as they were a few of the only members of the population who could read or write. They were the expert keepers of knowledge like biology and religion that we all have access to in the modern world.

It can be hard to envision what the world would resemble today if the huge bulk of individuals were not able to read, but for the vast majority of history the vast 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 much more available. Naturally, it was still just truly the richest and well-educated that could read or write, but it made it possible for an entire 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 actually been dispersed across the globe. Human civilisation rests upon a foundation of books, and we are lucky 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 understanding.

With such an abundant history of ideas, events, and stories right at our fingertips, it's sometimes simple to forget how extremely 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 huge 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, and that 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.