Books vs. Everything Else
May 14, 2008 4:40 PM   Subscribe

How is reading books supposed to make one smarter and more worldly? I like to read them (sometimes), but in my experience, it is the internet that helps me the most.

This post got me thinking...

I read books, but I think they are overrated. Many people claim that intelligent people read books, and the material you read will help you put your intelligence into use. I think this claim is mostly a fallacy of "appealing to tradition". I think reading books USED to be the best way to gain knowledge and exercise critical thinking skills, but not anymore. A lot of information I find in books seems to be outdated, vague, politically correct, and even idealistic.
posted by sixcolors to Society & Culture (2 answers total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Chatfilter. -- cortex

 
Chatfilter. Also, what books have you read thus far? Some authors are better than others, and taking "books" as a general category instead of a medium seems to lend credence to his point.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 4:51 PM on May 14, 2008


Or, more precisely, I have a feeling you just haven't read enough books to realize most any topic you can read about on the net has also been written about in a book, often in greater depth.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 4:56 PM on May 14, 2008


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