It has frequently been claimed that the book is on its last legs. In a world of instant gratification, where the internet and streaming services vie for our attention, and where 30-second videos and 280 characters are the preferred mediums of communication, the book is regularly dismissed as a relic of the past. But, to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Until Gutenberg introduced his printing press around the middle of the fifteenth century, the number of manuscript books in Europe’s libraries numbered no more than a few tens of thousands. Now, some three hundred thousand titles are commercially published each year in the US alone – a figure bolstered by millions more self-published titles. We are awash with books.
It is true that they face stiff competition from other forms of media like never before, and that the sheer volume of published works does not necessarily make it easy for the literary cream to rise to the top. Nonetheless, it is clear that the book still plays an integral role in our shared culture. Over several thousand years, it has proved itself an extraordinarily durable format that evolves as the world changes.
To this day, there is nothing quite like it for exploring a subject in real depth. To read a book is a commitment of time and energy – both intellectual and emotional. It is a chance to engage with consciences that you would never otherwise encounter. René Descartes characterized reading books as like having conversations with the finest minds of the past. The effort required to read a text is more than matched by the rewards it brings – the chance to enter different realms from the ones we inhabit in the day to day. An opportunity to connect.
This volume represents a smorgasbord of just a few of the most significant and remarkable works from throughout history – books that help tell the story of our civilization. I hope you have enjoyed this short literary voyage through time and that it might inspire your own, new journeys. As you set sail again, keep in mind the words of the nineteenth-century American academic, Charles W. Eliot: ‘Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.’