Reading and the Information Explosion from the Past to the Future: Reflecting on the Example of François de La Mothe le Vayer

This paper deals with the 17th century information explosion and its influence on scholarly reading behaviour. The invention of the printing press had increased drastically the amount of books and at the same time, the volume of knowledge. As a result, it became very difficult for researchers to embrace the full account of available science. Starting from the work of the French libertine sceptic François de La Mothe le Vayer (1588 - 1672), the analysis will focus on two major questions of 17th century research: The first question “Is the immense profusion of books instructive or rather confusing?” will be the basis for a second one: “Hasn't everything been said? Is it still possible to add something to this colossal knowledge?”