Books have, over the centuries, been among the greatest inventions of the human race and it has been through them that human civilization has been able to advance. Books have become so essential that it is difficult to envisage humanity without them. Books have been the way through which the history of the human race has been transmitted from one age group to another. In addition, they have been the through which official records have bee kept, and without them, all the great civilizations of the past would not have been able to blossom and flourish as they did. Throughout history, scholars and those people who could read have been greatly revered by their fellow men because they were believed to be the carriers of and transmitters of knowledge. Before the modern times, books were extremely rare and were intensely sought after by those who could read them. In the Western world, books were so rare that the only book which many of those who could read had read was the bible, a book that certain priests could not even read. The ownership of and the ability to read books were therefore a source of great prestige for those who had the privilege of having them. This privilege eventually came to be spread all over the world as more people became literate and books became commonplace. There has, however, recently developed a trend where people have come to prefer other forms of entertainment at the expense of books, which are slowly, but surely, being viewed as relics of the past.
A world without books is a concept which many people are yet to comprehend due to the fact that a majority of the literate people in the world today at some point enjoys reading. While this is a fact, one has to consider that there have developed newer and seemingly more interesting forms of entertainment, which many of the younger generation is adapting to instead of books. This is creating a situation similar to that in the novel Fahrenheit 451 where books are of no value and any that are found are destroyed. In the world of this novel, books are considered by society to be useless and due to popular demand, it has become the duty of the firemen to destroy every available copy that is found. The influence of other media such as soap operas has become so great that the population prefers it to books, which are looked upon as being too strenuous to read. Many of the characters in the novel have become disillusioned by books, mainly because of the conflicting information which is found within them. Beatty, the boss of the main character, is said to have once been an avid reader, but his disillusionment with books soon led him to get involved in their destruction as a fireman. His disillusionment with them seems to be so great that he makes Montag, the main character, destroy the book which he realizes that the latter has in his possession.
One would say that a world without books would be a dreary place within which to live because books have traditionally been the means of transmitting knowledge from one generation to another. Through books, issues are discussed more deeply and in the process, the reader gets to have a better understanding of the issues being discussed. This is not true of other sources of information, because these sources are scarce in content and this creates a situation where individuals get only a shallow understanding of the subject matter. In Fahrenheit 451, it is seen that because of the destruction of books, knowledge has become static, not being able to grow as it should. Those people who possess books are completely ostracized from society and are put in mental asylums because of their intellect. This makes it extremely difficult for knowledge to be transmitted and the lack of this knowledge has made the people in this society disillusioned with life. Because of their hatred for books, the society in Fahrenheit 451 is not equipped to deal with the issues of day to day life and they have instead become artificial. This is the likely scenario that would face the world if there were no books from which people could get the knowledge and wisdom that they could use to make their lives more meaningful. In addition, it is possible that the intellectual development of the human race would be brought to a standstill because intelligent thought is often written in books.
Books have been a source of history for the human race for centuries, and without them, one would conclude that there can be no history. The study of the history of the human race is extremely important because it enables people to learn from the events of the past and this knowledge helps in the making of future decisions. The study of history is only possible through books and because of the developing lack of interest in them, slowly but surely, the human race is going to end up without a history. This can clearly be seen when, in Fahrenheit 451, most of the women prefer watching interactive soap operas to having intellectual discussions. This has led to a situation where the women in the novel have no life other than that which they watch on television. The power of the media has become so great that the characters in the novel do not have the will, or the inclination, to live a different sort of life. When Montag asks his wife if she remembers where they met, she declares that she does not remember. In fact, she does not seem to show any more interest in the matter despite the fact that it is supposed to be one of the most important events of her life. Her obsession with soap operas has damaged her intellectual ability as well as her long term memory. Perhaps if she had been obsessed with reading books instead soap operas, then she may have had an interest not only in her life but also in her past.
Independent thought has greatly been encouraged through the reading of books and this has ensured the development of new ideas. This ability would be immensely diminished if there were no books in the world because it is only through the study of old ideas that new ideas are developed. Such technology as the internet will inevitably lead to the extinction of books from the world because it is the source of plenty of information. However, despite the large reserves of information within it, the internet does not have the qualities which books have because most of the information gotten from it is often instant and shallow. The internet does not allow individuals to contemplate on the information which they have just received, as books do. The lack of independent thought due to the absence of books is likely to put the human race into a dark age of intellectual stagnation. The ability to think through the learning of the previous work of others is what has helped the advancement of the human race. The inability to think and the reliance on shallow sources of information such as the internet is likely to see the end of the world as we know it. Human beings learn about their past from books and with this knowledge, the take action to avoid the mistakes of their past. Therefore, without books, the human race will probably end up destroying itself because it will not have the ability to learn from its past.