Exactly why the best books are greater than just stories

Exactly why the best books are greater than just stories

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The world today is built on an almost incomprehensible quantity of understanding that has been passed down in books.

With such a rich history of ideas, events, and stories right at our fingertips, it's often easy to forget how incredibly 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 percentage of all the books that have actually ever been written (or the good ones at least). The best books of all time can quickly alter the manner in which you look at the world, and that has been true throughout all of history also. The modern-day 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 actually not been for the books that changed minds throughout the ages.

It's important to remember 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. Most stories would have been sung throughout the great majority of history, simply since the large bulk of individuals might not read, suggesting that the majority of books were specialised things meant for those few who could understand them. After a brief boom during the classical age of antiquity, the amount of literate individuals dropped drastically throughout the Middle Ages. Books ended up being uncommon treasures, with monks fastidiously copying out the enduring timeless 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 religion that we all have access to in the modern world.

It can be hard to imagine what the world would be like today if the vast bulk of individuals were unable to read, but for the huge bulk of history the huge bulk of individuals could 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 a lot more accessible. Of course, it was still only actually the wealthiest and well-read that could read or write, however it allowed a whole 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 around the world. Human civilisation rests upon a structure of books, and we are fortunate to be able to just 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 understanding.