In the dark ages of our earlier history, the religious orders in their monasteries carried through the essence of what makes us civilized. Much of this knowledge was in books, and the monks took care of them and read them as part of their discipline. Sadly, we no longer have callings like this. The vast collection of knowledge that is now available is more than any one person could hold. Consequently, it is divided and subdivided into subjects. Each subject is the province of professionally employed specialists. Most are expert in their own subject, but ignorant of the others. And few have a sense of vocation.

From James Lovelock’s The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back and How We Can Still Save Humanity, London: Allen Lane, 2006, p. 159.