"Not so long ago, those who could read were few. They had a rare skill, and what they did – staring..."

"Not so long ago, those who could read were few. They had a rare skill, and what they did – staring at odd-shaped marks and reeling off a message written by someone far away – was regarded with awe. No wonder that, in the popular imagination, books and magic went together, and the kind of magic thought to be involved was frequently sinister. The Devil, like lawyers, was thought to go around with a contract – a big black book, which he was always pestering you to sign in blood."

- Margaret Atwood, Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing