A closer look
Why bother having an original thought when a little red book can dictate your exact emotional response to a cathedral? The 19th-century Baedeker guides were so neurotically precise that they invented the 'star' rating system for sights. Victorian tourists became so obsessed with checking off the highest-rated landmarks that they literally stopped looking at the scenery. They would wander through Europe with their noses buried in the guide, only pausing to feel profound inspiration when the book’s asterisks legally required them to do so.
