Alexander the Great learned to read and write by studying Homer's Iliad. Thanks to his teacher, the philosopher Aristotle, he had done so with unusual intensity. When Alexander embarked on his conquests, a copy of the Iliad accompanied him.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is at the forefront of what would come to be known as science fiction, revealing the promise of science and its destructive potential.

The printing press also made it easier to control and censor literature. It became a problem for authors living in regimes such as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.

The era of mass production and mass literacy we have today is the result of the invention of print in northern Europe by Johannes Gutenburg.

As more and more parts of the world became literate, new technologies such as paper and print increased the reach and influence of written stories. More readers meant new stories started to appear.