2003-06-26
... ? 'Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology' by Edward Tenner"Mass literacy made vision aids a necessity for tens of millions of people. . . . In the 19th century, reading appeared in a different light, no longer as the attribute of a clerical and administrative elite but as a mental skill indispensable to the new industrial world of complex equipment and printed manuals and regulations. Governments also needed literate populations to enforce policies and mobilize opinion, and manufacturers' marketing depended on posters and advertisements. Reading was the mental technique that was essential to the maintenance and operation of 19th-century technology."