The End of Wisdom

An edited Chandos/Elsevier volume of forecasts, strategy options and case studies on whether libraries survive digitisation — the “death of the book” hypothesis argued from inside the profession.

Why it’s on the list: Named in the replies to @WillManidis asking for the single best book that explains an entire industry — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved.

Ambiguous title. Kyle’s line is the bare phrase “The End of Wisdom,” and at least four books carry it — a Christian study by Caleb Reichardt, an advice critique by Farah Nabih Smaily, Martin Shields’s study of Ecclesiastes, and this library-futures volume. Because the thread asked specifically for a book that explains an entire industry, this card takes the library-futures book; confidence: low and the page count is omitted until Kyle confirms which one he meant.

Where I saw it: In the replies to @WillManidis asking “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?” (June 2, 2025). Kyle recovered the reply list by hand and saved it to his “Books To Read” Apple Note; the full transcribed list lives on what is the single best book… (tweet).

Connections

• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Libraries — the industry this reading of the title points at.
• Open Source Knowledge — the portfolio idea this sits closest to.