The Impermanence of Knowledge in a Permanent World

Itinerant book geek Nicholas Basbanes has written another tour de force of a book in Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World
In anecdotal detail, Basbanes runs and strolls through the history of books lost, found and those that won't go away. This is a fun read for anyone remotely interested in books.
I was especially fascinated with his stories detailing the volumes of ancient knowledge lost over the centuries. It is endlessly fascinating to wonder at the capabilities of ancient civilizations. The thought provoking Greek Antikithera Mechanism probably had some very interesting things written about it in its day. Many of these works, and the knowledge they contain have become lost for various reasons.
Often, I think, people may have been kept pretty busy while between civilizations, just staying alive. Why worry what some old dead guy said about screws and levers when these things burn so well...and the barbarians keep attacking.

In one example, Basbanes recounts the story of a ninth century Byzantine theologian who described some 280 books, half of which no longer exist. It is hard to believe and stomach that knowledge just "disappears" when their containers (books) are lost. Possibly one day, some 30th century researcher will pick up Basbanes book and find a similar sad truth in it.