15 ms·

This is why, in practice, you'd still probably come out way better, intellectually and perhaps in terms of happiness, spending a few years with a well-curated b

This is why, in practice, you'd still probably come out way better, intellectually and perhaps in terms of happiness, spending a few years with a well-curated bookcase—or even just a library card—and some notebooks, rather than unfettered access to the Web, despite what a lot of us thought about it'd bring to the world, years ago. A good bookcase still wins. Turns out I don't have time for "everything" anyway (and it's not really got everything, anyway, though The Web is very good at delivering 'everything' when it comes to cheap trivia)

jay_kyburz 4y ago
One of my startup ideas is to create this "bookcase" for the web. A curated list of really solid "books" and other information sources. My kids are constantly bringing home all kinds of interesting things from the library, and I remember how much cool stuff there is on the shelves from my youth. That stuff is just missing from the web. I'm surprised traditional publishers, the folks that actually print books, don't start working back through their catalogs building some kind of online library. I suspect that its because of the way contracts are written that don't leave anybody owning the complete book. I suspect you would have to go back to authors, photographers, and illustrators and renegotiate use of assets again.
- asdff 4y ago
  Online libraries exist and offer a lot of this. Here is a good example of some curated lists of books for teens from a library: https://lapl.org/teens/books https://lapl.org/teens/books
aaronwalker 4y ago
The idea of a well curated bookcase beating access to the World Wide Web is not one I’m so sure about. Permissionless access to a massive consortium of information, even if most of it is low quality, has empowered communities to learn concepts that they normally would not be able to (Khan Academy, Wikipedia, YouTube). Id agree that sitting with a bookcase for a long time would lend itself well to analysis because there is such limited information, whereas the way most people use the internet is by consuming in abundance. But the ease of use and accessibility of the web beats books.
- bombcar 4y ago
  I think part of the difference is if you're on a quest for particular knowledge (how to repair your car, how to rebuild a M35A2 winch) vs just browsing aimlessly. In the first, the internet wins hands down most of the time (there are specialized areas where nothing has been digitized); but the second it's not clear that browsing the library is worse than doomscrolling, even if you're doomstrolling HN or something relatively "high quality".
  - aaronwalker 4y ago
    To add on to the second point, when browsing the internet, you can skim dozens of articles on a certain subject like EU politics need without getting a clear picture of it, whereas all it takes is one we’ll crafted analytical book to get that overview.
- asdff 4y ago
  I think what they are getting at is if you want to actually learn some deep fundamental knowledge on a topic, its still going to be best found in a book today over a youtube video or a medium post. I agree with this. There is a lot of noise on the internet, and all of it is optimized for short form consumption that leaves out a lot of detail. Relevant blog posts you struggle to find due to SEO spam can't compare to a couple hundred page encyclopediac handbook on a given topic. If you want to change your oil maybe you can get by with a youtube video, but if you want to one day cultivate actual expertise you better buy that haynes manual that covers every little system in your car in one place you can easily reference that isn't prone to link rot. You are right that its hard to get good books for certain communities, but the internet comes in handy here, and plenty of good books are available freely online through means of varying legitimacy. If you want to really get a handle on physics, maybe finding a PDF of a good textbook in addition to those youtube videos would go further.
- tremon 4y ago
  even if most of it is low quality (Khan Academy, Wikipedia) Aren't you defeating your own argument in one sentence? Or are you saying that those are examples of low-quality information?

jay_kyburz 4y ago

One of my startup ideas is to create this "bookcase" for the web. A curated list of really solid "books" and other information sources. My kids are constantly bringing home all kinds of interesting things from the library, and I remember how much cool stuff there is on the shelves from my youth. That stuff is just missing from the web. I'm surprised traditional publishers, the folks that actually print books, don't start working back through their catalogs building some kind of online library. I suspect that its because of the way contracts are written that don't leave anybody owning the complete book. I suspect you would have to go back to authors, photographers, and illustrators and renegotiate use of assets again.

asdff 4y ago
Online libraries exist and offer a lot of this. Here is a good example of some curated lists of books for teens from a library: https://lapl.org/teens/books https://lapl.org/teens/books

aaronwalker 4y ago

The idea of a well curated bookcase beating access to the World Wide Web is not one I’m so sure about. Permissionless access to a massive consortium of information, even if most of it is low quality, has empowered communities to learn concepts that they normally would not be able to (Khan Academy, Wikipedia, YouTube). Id agree that sitting with a bookcase for a long time would lend itself well to analysis because there is such limited information, whereas the way most people use the internet is by consuming in abundance. But the ease of use and accessibility of the web beats books.

bombcar 4y ago
I think part of the difference is if you're on a quest for particular knowledge (how to repair your car, how to rebuild a M35A2 winch) vs just browsing aimlessly. In the first, the internet wins hands down most of the time (there are specialized areas where nothing has been digitized); but the second it's not clear that browsing the library is worse than doomscrolling, even if you're doomstrolling HN or something relatively "high quality".
- aaronwalker 4y ago
  To add on to the second point, when browsing the internet, you can skim dozens of articles on a certain subject like EU politics need without getting a clear picture of it, whereas all it takes is one we’ll crafted analytical book to get that overview.
asdff 4y ago
I think what they are getting at is if you want to actually learn some deep fundamental knowledge on a topic, its still going to be best found in a book today over a youtube video or a medium post. I agree with this. There is a lot of noise on the internet, and all of it is optimized for short form consumption that leaves out a lot of detail. Relevant blog posts you struggle to find due to SEO spam can't compare to a couple hundred page encyclopediac handbook on a given topic. If you want to change your oil maybe you can get by with a youtube video, but if you want to one day cultivate actual expertise you better buy that haynes manual that covers every little system in your car in one place you can easily reference that isn't prone to link rot. You are right that its hard to get good books for certain communities, but the internet comes in handy here, and plenty of good books are available freely online through means of varying legitimacy. If you want to really get a handle on physics, maybe finding a PDF of a good textbook in addition to those youtube videos would go further.
tremon 4y ago
even if most of it is low quality (Khan Academy, Wikipedia) Aren't you defeating your own argument in one sentence? Or are you saying that those are examples of low-quality information?