The original sentence is: "The soul of the whole past lies in books"-Thomas Carlyle.

It means that books reflect the author's thoughts and record the development of history and human civilization, so books are human souls.

Thomas Carlyle (translated as Caglieri) (English: Thomas Carlyle,179565438+February 4th-18865438+February 5th, 0) is a Scottish critic, satirist and historian. His works were very influential in the Victorian era.