verbs - Usage of "let" with an inanimate subject

Can anyone help me and explain if the usage of "let" together with "these things" is grammatically correct in the following passage?

We have created many useful things such as airplanes, trains,
computers, medicines, as well as institutions such as schools,
universities, hospitals and banks. Without them the modern world would
not exist. These things let us travel far and wide, gather
information quickly, educate ourselves, and treat diseases.

In my grammar textbook, they say you cannot use "let" with an inanimate subject. Personally, I didn't find the sentence strange when reading, but it should be wrong and corrected according to the grammar book. This sentence sounds OK to me; is that because the subject is a pronoun, "these things," although "thing" is still inanimate.

And if that is the case, how about this sentence below?

Airplanes and trains let us travel far and wide.

This does not sound too awkward either, but to be grammatically correct, does the sentence below look better?

Airplanes and trains enable/allow us to travel far and wide.

Please anyone help me find out if you cannot really use "let" with an inanimate subject. Thanks!!