It is almost uncanny that the modern telephone booth 
should also reflect another aspect of the medieval book world, 
namely the chained work of reference. But in Russia, until 
recently quite oral, there are no phone books. You memorize 
your information—which is even more medieval than the 
chained book. But memorization presented little problem for 
the pre-print student, and much less for nonliterate persons. 
Natives are often bewildered by their literate teachers and ask: 
“Why do you write things down? Can’t you remember?”

     Chaytor was the first to explain (p. 116) why print should 
impair our memories so notably, and why the manuscript 
should not:

     Our memories have been impaired by print; we know that 
     we need not ‘burden our memories’ with matter which we