Never ever before have books been so accessible as they are today in the contemporary world; keep reading to learn more.
It can be difficult to imagine what the world would resemble today if the large majority of people were unable to read, but for the vast bulk of history the large majority of individuals might 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 accessible. Of course, it was still just truly the richest and well-read that could read or write, but it enabled a whole host of breakthroughs in science, art, and thinking to be spread out across great distances. Consider what would have taken place if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have been dispersed around the world. Human civilisation rests upon a foundation of books, and we are fortunate 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 easily gain access to the totality of human understanding.
With such a rich history of concepts, events, and stories right at our fingertips, it's often easy to forget how exceptionally 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 ever been composed (or the good ones at least). The best books of all time can quickly change the manner in which you look at the world, which has been true throughout all of history too. The modern-day world is built on knowledge that has actually 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 actually not been for the books that changed minds across the ages.
It is necessary to remember that, although a lot of the best modern books of all time tend to be regarded as ground-breaking works of fiction, for the majority of mankind's literary history, we did not write much fiction at all. The majority of stories would have been sung throughout the great majority of history, merely because the large bulk of people might not read, meaning that many books were specialised things meant for those few who might understand them. After a short boom throughout the classical era of antiquity, the amount of literate people dropped dramatically during the Middle Ages. Books ended up being rare treasures, with monks meticulously copying out the enduring classic texts by hand so as to protect them, as they were a few of the only members of the population who could read or write. They were the expert keepers of understanding like biology and religion that we all have access to in the contemporary world.