Knowing What We Know

By Simon Winchester,

Book cover of Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic

Book description

“A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter . . . . Simon Winchester has firmly earned his place in history . . . as a promulgator of knowledge of every variety, perhaps the last of the famous explorers who crisscrossed…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Knowing What We Know as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Winchester brings a long life of research to this study of the ways we have striven over millennia to preserve and disseminate knowledge, from the earliest writing to books to the internet.  He sees knowledge as the force for good and recounts how evil can seek to suppress, subvert, or misuse it.

In my poems, I try to question our ideas of progress.  The good we achieve is fragile, always dependent on an endless dialogue of self-awareness.

Want books like Knowing What We Know?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Knowing What We Know.

Browse books like Knowing What We Know

Book cover of Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence
Book cover of The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma
Book cover of The Age of AI: And Our Human Future

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,535

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in technology, thinking, and artificial intelligence?

Technology 129 books
Thinking 48 books