Because the process of bookmaking was so labor-intensive, owning a book was an example of your wealth and prestige, if you could afford one of these expensive luxuries. Books are directly tied to knowledge, and thus if you owned and were able to read a book, you were considered to be an educated person. Since this ability was not very common in the early days of printing, education was valued above anything because it meant that you had “made it” – you were wealthy enough to purchase, and had the time, to learn to read and actually read a book. It would make sense that this notion of becoming learned would carry into today’s world; that education, and having a higher education degree, seems like the most desirable thing in the world. Even though we now know that people without college degrees can be more successful than people who have a multitude of college degrees, we still strive for academic success even though it’s been proven to not necessarily be a direct indicator of success. This notion, that academic prosperity will ensure a good future, seems to stem directly from the times when owning a book meant that you were at the peak of your success.