Different than that. I'm saying that the small number of books published years ago that you still see around are probably the best from the large number that we

Different than that. I'm saying that the small number of books published years ago that you still see around are probably the best from the large number that were published in their year. If it were survivorship bias, then I'd say "people used to be better writers..." There were certainly lots of awful books written in the past. We just don't see them anymore.