-Amy Lowell
how do we think about books today? the irish monks of the middle ages believed that the written word was imbued with some sort of magical, otherworldly power, and they spent their lives carefully copying and illuminating manuscripts. gutenberg's printing press completely revolutionized history when it moved books from the libraries of the rich into the hands and minds of the common people.
but today, i think it seems like some of us resent them a little. we're bitter when we're forced to venture into the library stacks when we can't find a source online. we're even angrier when we have to buy them for class. but if books are really "the reason why men lived and worked and died," then maybe we're missing something.
