The way great books affected human development

The way great books affected human development

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

It can be difficult to envision what the world would be like today if the vast bulk of individuals were not able to read, but for the large bulk of history the vast majority 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 altered that, making books much more accessible. Obviously, it was still just really the richest and well-read that could read or write, however it enabled a whole host of developments in science, art, and thinking to be spread across great distances. Consider what would have occurred 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 just 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 access the totality of human knowledge.

It is very important to bear in mind that, although a lot of the best modern books of all time tend to be regarded as ground-breaking works of fiction, for most of humankind'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, simply because the large majority of individuals might not read, suggesting that most books were specialised things meant for those few who could understand them. After a short boom during the classical age 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 surviving classic texts by hand so as to preserve 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 religious beliefs that we all have access to in the contemporary world.

With such a rich history of ideas, events, and stories right at our fingertips, it's in some cases easy 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 big proportion of all the books that have ever been written (or the good ones at least). The best books of all time can easily change the way that you look at the world, which has actually held true throughout all of history too. The contemporary world is built on knowledge 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 not been for the books that changed minds throughout the ages.