A review by inquiry_from_an_anti_library
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt

adventurous funny informative fast-paced

5.0

Is This An Overview?

Books contain ideas that can change how a person thinks, they can swerve the behavior of society.  But the ideas contained in books are fragile, as the survival of books was under threat from various sources.  Until the advent of an educational system and mass literacy, there was low demand for books as few people read books.  Those who did read tended to remove books that were not aligned with their groups’ ideology.  Books were made of perishable material, which was damaged by weather, repeated use, and insects.  The book survival strategy, is to be copied.  Among those who could read, were the Benedictine monks.  Who kept to their code of requiring reading.  To read, they needed books.  Therefore housed, protected, and copied books.  Preserved ideas.  Preserved but not shared as much, for there was an ordeal to take a book out to read by someone other than a monk.

 

Few ancient books survived.  One book in particular was to be rediscovered, and influence the decisions of many people.  This was the book On the Nature of Things by Lucretius.  The ideas within the book stood in contrast to the religious fervor during the era when it was written and rediscovered.  Many ideas held in the book would later be validated through scientific procedures.  A book that swerved society from ecclesial to scientific. 

 

Caveats?

There were many sources of societal change than a singular book.  During the eras that the author was describing, there were various sources of influence and power struggles that culminated into the swerves.  There were other societies and groups that were interested in books.