Discuss The Knowledge

Written word is fine, but to quote a cliche 'a picture says a thousand words' so I'd like to see important things we need to know recorded visually, as well as through text and verbal narrative. A question that kept coming to mind while I was reading The Knowledge was "yes, but what does that actually LOOK like?" I was able to answer that question by searching the internet and YouTube, but let's assume that option won't be available after the apocalypse. How can we preserve visual representations of important things we need to know and do? Perhaps we need to go back to the good old days of photograph albums? And while I'm not suggesting that we all start scribbling on the nearest cliff face, think how much information about early civilisations is still preserved in cave paintings. I appreciate visual learning isn't everyone's preference, but in a do-or-die situation I'd rather have half a dozen well-constructed graphics showing me what to do than wade through pages of text (although, ideally, I'd use both).

Some well-drawn diagrams or graphics would speed up the process of building things and maintaining them. I know I've run into problems with text-only instructions many times, but as soon as I've seen a visual representation things are suddenly so simple.
Diagrams remove the need for precision knowledge of language or meaning, since one doesn't have to know what a 90-degree angle looks like because it has just shown you. This would also make crossing any language barriers and/or creating a common language easier (because we'll likely be without translation software). Most people could understand that pointing to an object (or a picture of one) and saying a word signifies that this is the name of the object.

Yes, I completely agree with you both, and if an international effort ever is undertaken to genuinely attempt to preserve all of the most important information for recovering civilisation it would certainly need to include copious diagrams and graphics, and perhaps animations and videos too. I discuss this very topic on the 'How To' webpage. But at the end of the day, 'The Knowledge' is a popular science book about the underlying principles of science and technology of our world, and not really intended for post-apocalyptic survivors. In this way, the book is necessarily limited in certain ways - to only around 300 pages, for example, and people wouldn't really want to wade through hundreds of technical drawings.

Some of the prehistoric cave paintings depicting hunting scenes look very much like instruction manuals to me. Men behind the herds driving them towards the hunters in front of them for example. If your language is limited or you all speak different ones what better way to communicate?

In the same way that we are preserving ancient breeds of farm animals, seeds and plants perhaps we also need to preserve skills. Its probably done on an ad-hoc basis but a well defined project is needed. Probably not at the top of any government's list of priorities though.

Even 'comic book' style would work. Something that everyone from every background would understand.