“In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (Letters and Social Aims: Quotation and Originality, 1876)
Why buy a book?
It’s a book, stupid!
You know this strange little sometimes big thing made of paper. Sometimes with hardcover, sometimes with paperback. But what’s special about books?
You don’t need energy
Yep, you have the new iPhone or G1 and you always carrying around your notebook. Everywhere electricity is available. But would you always depend on the next tapping?
You can read it everywhere, anytime
Imagine a sunny day with small clouds, you’re lying on the grass and some fan is spinning to cool your notebook. Stop here. No, this isn’t what relaxing day look like.
More focusing
If your reading a tutorial on the net you may connected to irc or icq and your emails popping up every 10 minutes. If you read a book, you read a book. No more, no twittering, no emailing.
Compressed
The information in books a highly compressed. You’ll often find more information on the net but most of them is redundant. You’ll need much time for filtering these information.
Why read a book?
You’ve paid for it
A German proverb says “something that costs nothing is worth nothing”. I think the price you paid is a motivation to read the book.
Webmentions
[…] That’s insane. He recommended to read 12 books a year and you will be pretty quickly above average. I know a lot of people read blog posts and online tutorials or stackoverflow. But a book is just different. […]