One point in defense of books is that by having you focus your attention for an extended period of time, they can unfold an interesting and coherent perspective

One point in defense of books is that by having you focus your attention for an extended period of time, they can unfold an interesting and coherent perspective on their topic. Of course this only holds for good books and most books---like most anything---aren't that good. Also, not all topics are necessarily well suited to books. I agree it's probably better to browse varied sources online to learn how to use async/await. But I can't imagine even approximating the experience of reading Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs through random-ish web browsing. Though both involve reading, these examples are really different sorts of activities, each well supported by different features of the product design of the book and the web.