num_pages: 432
description: From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes--this is a look at how humans acquire retain and pass on information and data and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds.With the advent of the internet any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things--no need for math no need for map-reading no need for memorization--are we risking our ability to think? As we empty our minds will we one day be incapable of thoughtfulness?Addressing these questions Simon Winchester explores how humans have attained stored and disseminated knowledge. Examining such disciplines as education journalism encyclopedia creation museum curation photography and broadcasting he looks at a whole range of knowledge diffusion--from the cuneiform writings of Babylon to the machine-made genius of artificial intelligence by way of Gutenberg Google and Wikipedia to the huge Victorian assemblage of the Mundanaeum the collection of everything ever known currently stored in a damp basement in northern Belgium.Throughout this tour Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom? Does Rene Descartes's Cogito ergo sum--I think therefore I am the foundation for human knowledge widely accepted since the Enlightenment--still hold? And what will the world be like if no one in it is wise?
language: English
title: Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
publisher: Harper