Are books the only thing that makes us different from animals?

I was reflecting on my liking of written communication - I like it written down, not always, but some of the complicated ideas and some important conversations I want to be saved. I like to re-read things that are dear to me. I like to look at pictures for long time to focus my thoughts and maybe come up with something different
This August I did a Toastmaster speech on the topic of sustainable development. And as I was researching things that might be close and interesting to people who are not experts (yeah, I tend to think of myself as an emerging expert) - I came across the fact that we, as humans, are pushing the rest of life on the Earth away. Practically we are invading animals' and plants' homes and chasing them away - yes, just like that.
And then the next thought was - what gave us that right? Are we better in any way? I don't like the idea of someone being "better" than the other living being in general. Or even I don't like the idea of "better". Better for what? Without context "better" means nothing.
But ok. Are we more clever to decide the lives of the rest of the Earth population? I am not an expert on intelligence, but some research has shown that mostly the scientists agree, that we just do not understand the intelligence of other species. And in the same time - they actually understand ours quite often. Hmmm.
Well, I think we are behaving like invaders for the one simple reason - because we can. Just like in the history, more powerful races, tribes, states took over the less powerful ones and imposed their "better" rules on the oppressed, now we are doing the same to the animals. But we should also remember that power is not permanent, it favours some and for some time and then it shifts away. By killing our allies -  animals - we might be opening a road to power for our enemies: viruses, harmful bacteria, parasites..
But I digress. Something made us more powerful than other species. And it's not just our intelligence. I think it's our way to preserve, distill, pass on and grow our knowledge. Basically, it's books. As kids we absorb the knowledge of generations and come to adulthood prepared for many things that we had no chance to experience, the books gave us options for dealing with future situations no matter where in the world we are and how weird and different the environment is.
Maybe I am missing something, but I think animals don't have that wonderful transferrable information storage. Maybe that's what made us so powerful.

P.S. By books I mean a vast information media - anything that one can create from his/her own experience and pass to the other without significant loss of information.