"Taken literally, the statement introduces a paradox - meeting in solitude - but that very tension is what makes books so powerful. We experience them alone, yet they facilitate conversations with others, with new ideas, and with ourselves. In that way, books have always helped drive progress. Some introduce new technologies, philosophies, or political ideas. Others synthesize history to reveal patterns and introduce lessons from the past."
""Books are solitudes in which we meet," author and activist Rebecca Solnit wrote in The Faraway Nearby (2013). Taken literally, the statement introduces a paradox - meeting in solitude - but that very tension is what makes books so powerful. We experience them alone, yet they facilitate conversations with others, with new ideas, and with ourselves. In that way, books have always helped drive progress."
Books create solitary encounters that enable readers to engage with others, new ideas, and self-reflection, fostering imagination and fresh questions. Books have catalyzed progress by introducing technologies, philosophies, and political movements; by synthesizing history to reveal patterns and lessons; and by telling stories that convey enduring human truths. Five experts who attended Progress Conference 2025 each selected a book they believe changed the world for the better, spanning science, philosophy, and fiction. Douglas R. Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach is noted for exploring self-reference across logic, art, music, and cognition and for its inventive, playful prose.
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