Books, and the amount of people who might read them, have actually been absolutely important to human development over the centuries.
It can be tough to envision what the world would resemble today if the large majority of individuals were unable to read, but for the vast bulk of history the huge majority of individuals might not, and nor were books accessible even if they could. It was the invention of the printing press towards the close of the 15th that altered that, making books much more available. Obviously, it was still only actually the wealthiest and well-educated that could read or write, however it allowed an entire host of advancements in science, art, and thinking to be spread throughout great distances. Consider what would have occurred if the theory of gravity, or of evolution, could not have actually been dispersed across the globe. Human civilisation rests upon a structure of books, and we are lucky to be able to merely log onto a site like the one backed by the co-founder of the impact investor with a stake in World of Books, and easily gain access to the totality of human knowledge.
With such an abundant history of ideas, occasions, and stories right at our fingertips, it's in some cases simple to forget how extremely lucky we are to have the likes of the founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones or the CEO of the asset manager with a stake in Amazon books supporting access to a big percentage of all the books that have ever been composed (or the good ones at least). The best books of all time can quickly change the manner in which you look at the world, which has held true throughout all of history as well. The modern-day world is built upon understanding that has been handed down through books, whether that is philosophy, science, or history, and human civilisation would not be anywhere near as advanced as it is today if it had actually not been for the books that changed minds across the ages.
It is necessary to keep in mind that, although a lot of the best modern books of all time tend to be regarded as ground-breaking works of fiction, for the majority of humanity's literary history, we did not compose much fiction at all. Most stories would have been sung throughout the great majority of history, merely because the huge majority of people might not read, meaning that a lot of books were specialised things meant for those few who might understand them. After a quick boom during the classical age of antiquity, the quantity of literate individuals dropped drastically throughout the Middle Ages. Books became uncommon treasures, with monks painstakingly copying out the surviving timeless texts by hand so as to preserve them, as they were a few of the only members of the population who could read or write. They were the professional keepers of knowledge like biology and religious beliefs that all of us have access to in the modern world.