Writing itself is 5,000 years old, and for most of that time words were written by hand using a variety of tools. The Romans were able to run an empire thanks to documents written on papyrus. Scroll books could be made quite cheaply and, as a result, ancient Rome had a thriving written culture. With the fall of the Roman Empire, papyrus became more difficult to obtain. Europeans were forced to turn to a much more expensive surface on which to write: Parchment. Medieval handwritten books could cost as much as a house, they also represent a limitation on literacy and scholarship.
No such limitations were felt in China, where paper had been invented in the second century. Paper was the foundation of Chinese culture and power, and for centuries how to make it was kept secret. When the secret was out, paper mills soon sprang up across central Asia. The result was an intellectual flourishing known as the Islamic Golden Age. Muslim scholars made discoveries in biology, geology, astronomy and mathematics. By contrast, Europe was an intellectual backwater.
That changed with Gutenberg’s development of movable type printing. The letters of the Latin alphabet have very simple block-like shapes, which made it relatively simple to turn them into type pieces. When printers tried to use movable type to print Arabic texts, they found themselves hampered by the cursive nature of Arabic writing. The success of movable type printing in Europe led to a thousand-fold increase in the availability of information, which produced an explosion of ideas that led directly to the European Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution that followed.

Welcome to the thrilling second season of ‘Our Planet’. Get ready for an astounding journey through breathtaking landscapes and fascinating wildlife. This series, with its captivating cinematography and powerful storytelling, immerses us in Earth's natural beauty and reminds us of the importance of protecting it as we face crucial challenges. Through David Attenborough's masterful narration we will connect with the magnificence of our shared home with other species and be inspired to take action to preserve its splendor. Join us in celebrating the awe-inspiring planet we call home!
Be it buffalo, polar bears, humpback whales or albatross chicks, migration is a vital survival strategy for animals to feed, reproduce and find home.

On a vast plateau cradled in the heart of the rocky mountain range lies two million acres of unspoiled wilderness, never farmed and never fenced. Canyons, lakes, rivers and mountains, a refuge for magnificent animals and a spiritual sanctuary for generations of Americans, all resting on the largest super volcano in North America. This is Yellowstone, America's first national park, a raw and powerful beauty that truly comes to life through immersive 3D.

Zeitgeist was created as a non-profit filmic expression to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. The film gathers information from many sources and puts it together in a way that shows it is possible for people to be manipulated by large institutions, governments and economic powers.