Whenever I come across a claim that “YouTube grows its total video footage by a hundred hours every minute”, I have to do a double take and ponder: is that even physically possible? I suppose it is. Still, this is a misleading claim due to the mismatch of units. There was a time (still is?) when film was measured in feet (hence the phrase “video footage”). Perhaps the modern equivalent is gigabytes, or even terabytes. Certainly makes more intuitive sense to claim that “YouTube grows its total video footage by X terabytes every minute” (substitute an appropriate value for X). But I do see the advertising appeal of the former claim, however misleading it happens to be.

Anyway, this line of thought was triggered by a phrase in the Foreword of Jacob Bronowski’s book The Ascent of Man (1973), which accompanied the eponymous BBC documentary. It also got me thinking about my favourite documentaries, all of which were shot in the 1970s when film was measured in feet. The first was indeed The Ascent of Man, followed by Connections (1978) and then Cosmos (which first aired in 1980, but was shot earlier in 1979). These three remain unequalled to this day, in my opinion. No other documentary approaches the enlightenment offered by these three.

I have finally fulfilled a long-time goal of owning their corresponding books. Bronowski, Burke and Sagan were not only outstanding hosts of the respective documentaries, but they also wrote lucidly, and with immense foresight. For example, I’m astonished how Burke foresaw privacy violations by hi-tech companies way back in 1978! Sagan’s opening definition of the cosmos is pure poetry to go with the stunning introductory scene. Bronowski also supplied a timeless opening statement in defining his chosen title. They are simply the best storytellers that I have come across in this genre.