Niven used a similar idea for the Library on the Pak Protector homeworld (Protector) for persisting knowledge through constant warfare. And with David Gerrold

Niven used a similar idea for the Library on the Pak Protector homeworld (Protector) for persisting knowledge through constant warfare. And with David Gerrold (who wrote The Trouble with Tribbles Star Trek episode), The Flying Sorcerers, with "pull up" lines: needing to make the things to make the other things. (Niven's Ringworld also has a problem with restarting civilization: no ore beneath the surface - though, why not use rusted cars etc?) Games like Civilization arguably also use this idea, with their tree/graph of technologies. A Fire Upon the Deep (FUP, Vinge) does a little of this, also talks of restoring technology in the Slownness as a hobby of Uni Depts. It's always reminded me of people in the Renaissance wondering in awe at ancient greek civilization (and even today, we use many of their ideas, particularly civic/municipal/government - arguably, a kind of "technology", a way of organizing people). FUP also notes there are some very simple mechanisms that aren't discovered until technology has progressed well beyond what was needed (because the principle needed to understand them was very advanced). IIRC the example was a torsional quantum antennae (with I assume is related to a waveguide antennae). Dragon's Egg (Forward) has the fascinating idea that it's more important to let people know that something is possible, than to explicitly show them how. Because then they understand it fully for themselves. I think also, it has far superior effect-per-information: as another commenter said, you can't really fit all of modern technology into one book.