Consider 2 types of knowledge: - knowing that XYZ is the case, knowledge of facts, or "propsitional knowledge" as a philosopher might call it - probably a heck

Consider 2 types of knowledge: - knowing that XYZ is the case, knowledge of facts, or "propsitional knowledge" as a philosopher might call it - probably a heck of a lot of Google engineers' knowledge of this type (except stuff which is personal to them, like what they did last tuesday or the content of some private source code) is in books. - knowing how to do XYZ or "performative" or "procedural knowledge" - this sort of knowledge you can try and convey in literature, but often some lived experience is necessary to acquire it. Practising martial arts for 20 years might produce a different order of "knowing kung fu" than reading about it without the practice (Neo notwithstanding, the lived experience was artificially implanted there.) I don't know, but I'd guess the knowledge you're impressed by is largely of the second type.