In my last blog, I related the story of the candidate for a high-level, executive position, who didn’t read books. I felt this was a character flaw that was so fundamental that I would consider it a disqualifier for the job. To me it indicated the lack of critical thinking.
I asked for your thoughts on this and got a few responses, so thank you.
Going Deeper
Let’s probe this a little deeper. This topic got me curious; it doesn’t take much to get me curious about a topic, so I went looking for a book on the role of the written word in our world. I found a gem: The Written World by Martin Puchner. Puchner is a professor of literature at Harvard. The subtitle of his book is, The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization. The scope of the book is amazingly ambitious. In fact, the first page declares, “Literature, since it emerged 4,000 years ago, has shaped the lives of most humans on planet Earth.” We are what we read.
The book opens with the story of Apollo 8’s flight to the Moon. When the crew of Apollo 8 circled the Moon (they didn’t land), upon reappearing from the dark side of the Moon, the three astronauts were struck by the beauty of the Earth, floating in space. The astronauts read a passage from Genesis, which was broadcast back to Earth. Frank Borman had written out the lines of Genesis using an alphabet created in Greece, on paper, an invention from China, from a book, a Roman invention, printed, another Chinese invention, developed further in northern Europe.
They had been so fixated on the Moon, their quest, that the Earth was startling to them. The Moon was monotone gray. The Earth was beautiful. Later, on Apollo 17, The Blue Marble photo was taken that has subsequently become the most reproduced photograph in history. But Genesis, the creation story, showed the power of literature.
Brief Overview
With such a broad scope, I can only provide a very brief overview. The author starts with the invention of alphabets to record things. The first things that needed to be recorded were business transactions. Yep, accountants and ‘follow the money’ go back to the first things written down by humans.
Of course, they had to write on something. The author covers clay tablets, bone, bark, papyrus, and the invention of paper. Formats included scrolls, accordion-style books and books as we think of them today. Funny that, with computers, we’re back to scrolling again.
Copying books was first by hand, then by hand-carved plates made of wood, to movable type, ala Gutenberg. The impact on the distribution of knowledge and, as a result, on societies was tremendous.
Besides the technology, the author walks us through the foundational texts, such as Homer’s Iliad and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Next came holy scripture for the various religions of the world. Later came the invention of the novel (in Japan), plays, poems and other forms of literature.
A second, independent literary tradition was developed by the Maya and almost lost. I was completely ignorant of this. There are chapters on piracy (stealing of intellectual property) but, lest you think this is something new, the piracy was others stealing Cevantes’ Don Quixote, published in 1605.
There is a chapter on Benjamin Franklin, who was a media entrepreneur. Partially to make money but more to spread the message of the revolution. And that is the main point of the book, that the written word can change thinking, change history and change the world. But to change anybody or anything, the literature needs to be read.
This is a fascinating book. As I said, the ambition of the scope the author covers is remarkable. The first half is much stronger than the second half and I won’t blame those who want to put it down halfway through.
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