The key reasons why people having books to read developed the modern world

The key reasons why people having books to read developed the modern world

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Books, and the quantity of individuals who could read them, have been definitely crucial to human development over the centuries.

It can be hard to envision what the world would be like today if the vast bulk of individuals were not able to read, but for the vast bulk of history the huge majority of people 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 far more available. Obviously, it was still only actually the richest and well-educated that could read or write, however it allowed a whole host of developments in science, art, and thinking to be spread out throughout great distances. Consider what would have happened if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have actually been dispersed around the world. Human civilisation rests upon a foundation of books, and we are lucky to be able to simply 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 knowledge.

With such an abundant history of concepts, events, and stories right at our fingertips, it's often 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 proportion of all the books that have ever been composed (or the good ones at the very least). The best books of all time can easily change the way that you take a look at the world, which has actually been true throughout all of history as well. The modern-day 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 is very important to keep 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 mankind's literary history, we did not compose much fiction at all. Most stories would have been sung throughout the great bulk of history, merely since the vast bulk of people might not read, indicating that the majority of books were specialised things meant for those few who might comprehend them. After a brief boom throughout the classical period of antiquity, the amount of literate individuals dropped dramatically during the Middle Ages. Books ended up being uncommon treasures, with monks painstakingly copying out the enduring classic texts by hand so as to preserve 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 faith that we all have access to in the contemporary world.