>In the pre-Internet era, when you were curious about tech X, you'd walk to a store, skim through a bunch of books, pick the one you liked the most, and take it

>In the pre-Internet era, when you were curious about tech X, you'd walk to a store, skim through a bunch of books, pick the one you liked the most, and take it home Nothing prevents you from still walking to a store, skimming the titles, and picking one (more-or-less at random, it sounds, from your description) Or going to your local library Or checking what book(s) are required/suggested reading for a course on the topic at a local college/university It can be just as hard to pick a "good book"[0] as a "good web page"[1] .. but I find it easier to determine relative quality of a book faster than a website - and a good book will have multiple citations (other books, papers, websites, etc) A less-expensive option than the book route (unless you're visiting your local library, of course), is to browse through the magazine racks at a good newsstand or bookstore And don't forget the power of borrowing books on your Kindle[2] or similar :) --------------- [0] https://antipaucity.com/2012/12/10/finding-your-niche/#.YmqQ1JLMJAc https://antipaucity.com/2012/12/10/finding-your-niche/#.YmqQ... [1] https://antipaucity.com/2006/10/23/authority-issues-online/#.YmqQr5LMJAc https://antipaucity.com/2006/10/23/authority-issues-online/#... [2] https://theexceptioncatcher.com/blog/2012/11/varying-your-reading-materials/ https://theexceptioncatcher.com/blog/2012/11/varying-your-re...