How Jews Became "People of the Books"

According to Jewish tradition, God is, among other things, a writer.

The Talmud says that, on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, God inscribes our names in one of three books: The Book of Life for the righteous; the Book of Death for the devilish, and a to-be-determined list for the muddy middle.

Likewise, Pirkei Avot, a collection of rabbinic wisdom, instructs that Jews should keep in mind that above them always is "an eye that sees, an ear that hears, and all your deeds are inscribed in a book."