Jonathan Rose

But universities aren't the only places where these relationships are built.

The historian Jonathan Rose's history of autodidactism from the 18th to 20th centuries, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, 2001, shows how those with little to no formal education can cultivate rich intellectual lives.

Rose draws from memoirs written by miners, weavers, labourers and housemaids, which vividly depict the kind of social structures that can help people learn – I was surprised and gratified to find that self-study didn't require isolation.

In 18th century Scotland, for example, miners founded libraries where members pooled their annual subscription fees to buy books.