"the Druids and their rightous distrust of books"

I don't even know where to begin with that. But since you've said it it's probably true so I won't argue.

But, it's not just about written words - it's about sharing information and printing is only the medium. - telling people about things they don't know about, places they've never been, ideas they'd never considered, listening to people and working those ideas into your own. In the 21st century not only do we have all the ideas of people we know and meet (like the 'Druids' had) but we have at our fingertips literally millions of books and papers and discussions, not just physically in libraries but on the internet. There's got to be stuff to enrich your own ideas out there. But you sound like you're discounting that, like all that you need is what's inside your head, your own experiences. ?