First of all let me clarify my question: I am wondering if reading books is still necessary for personal and professional success. We are not taking into consideration other factors like the entertainment one here.
Now if this question was asked 20 years ago, I am sure that the vast majority of people would have echoed a big “Yes!”.
Today I am not so sure. I have a very clear opinion on the issue, but I won’t express it on this post, mainly because I want to understand what other people think.
So why I am not sure if people still consider reading books important?
First and foremost because today we have a pervasive alternative, called the Internet. If you wanted to get in-depth information about a certain topic 20 years ago, you would inevitably need to buy a book or visit a library. Today, you can access virtually all the information available to the human race without leaving your bedroom. All it takes is an Internet connection and a computer.
Apart from the content from the books themselves, in fact, you also have a myriad of blogs, wikis, online forums and social networks that are providing a huge amount of information on a wide range of topics, from collecting stamps to alternative Chinese medicine and dating women.
The question then becomes: is the information that we find on the Internet enough to foster our personal and professional success, or reading old-fashioned books is still necessary?
Have your say in our poll and drop a comment if you want to share your opinion. The poll closes on Friday, midnight.
About Mark
Mark is an digital entrepreneur from New York City who recently acquired DBT. He started his ventures buying growing then selling several businesses and content blogs on Flippa. A perfect night for him constitutes pizza, wine, slow jazz and WordPress! He's an SEO expert and a growth strategist. When he's not working on his businesses he enjoys sharing his learned lessons with the DBT community.
Well there is the expression horses for courses.
Yes definitely they are necessary. We can not read or find all the good articles, books or anything related to our work in front of our computer.
There are still many things which are currently not available on the internet but are in the books…
So keep reading & keep Creating…
Books are still necessary to research something in depth. Speed readers (I’m not) can devour 100s of pages quickly, but slower readers …
@Arun, it is a Feedburner glitch.
Hell yes, books contains expertise from a to z. Blog posts are hap snaps, too fragmented and you have to wait for the next post while you can read on with a book. Blogs are good to know some basics, but sharing real expertise from begin to end isn’t free. Also not all subjects are covered on a blog.
No issues, Reading books have their own charm and I am dead sure that this can never be replaced.
Read On…
It will be unnecessary quite soon. It’s easy to understand, we don’t want to drive a horse when we have a car unless we treat it as a hobby.
I don’t think books are necessary. It may be more pleasant to read something in print, or it can be easier to have a hard copy lying around for quick research, but when it comes to the information that they hold, I believe that the Internet is a far more valuable resource.
Reading books for “personal and professional success” is more important now than ever for (in my mind) 1 main reason: empathy.
Reading books is important because information consumed via a book is different from the one online. Book consumption is systematical and complete. The online consumption is search-driven, interruptable and overall attention-deprived.
I voted yes. In fact I just bought three books from Amazon, one is the new WordPress plugin development guide, one is about landing pages, and the third is on writing web content.
Today, we can get almost all generic information from the net; but for specialized, and more original information, we still have to read books to a large extent. The best books are still available as printed books. Free ebooks do not compare with them. Besides, you feel more comfortable to read paper books; you cannot really enjoy reading a book from a computer.
I hope books will always be availaable as I have always been a reader all my life and worked in a major library system for over forty years. Also, I own many books, probably more than I’ll ever have time to read.
In the mid-sixties, while attending the University of Miami, I went to a debate between two English professors on the future of books. Interestingly, the older instructor was sure that books would be obsolete 25 years on, whereas the younger man was sure they’d still be around. I’m so glad he was right. (Are E-books still around?)–armie113
Books are absolutely necessary. Though we can learn a lot from a variety of sources — including TV, online articles, magazines, and, of course, blogs — there is something about a book that is more complete than other sources. As I’m sure we’ll see in the future, the traditional form a book will be replaced with Kindle Books, eBooks, and other formats, but we will always need books.
Hello Dan,
Correct me if I am wrong pal that DBT rss sub. have down to 8500 from 17000. How this can be?
Is Reading Books Still Necessary?
Are you including ebooks in the above question??
If yes i can close my eyes and say its damn necessary.
As much as I love reading blogs and finding information online, books are definitely necessary.
I voted No, it’s not necessary but they are still a great resource. They’re lots of information that is still best processed by reading a good book, plus you can’t sit in front of the computer all day and a good book is a great way to unwind and learn at the same time. Plus, you don’t have to worry about battery power, internet connection and books can be easily shared.
Mr. I wrote:
Todays forums and blogs also have lot of wrong information. There is almost no such problem with books.
I’m going to have to go with “No” on this. I don’t think it is necessary and required anymore.
To be honest, I think reading (for the purpose of gathering information) is still necessary for one reason. Depending on the website you are getting your stuff from, how credible is the site itself? For me, there are too many unreliable websites to simply rely on that. Case in point: Wikipedia is not 100% accurate (as I’m sure many of you are aware).
Yes even after 20 years answer is same. But I think if you will ask this question to new generation (of the age of 16 – 21) than poll results can be different.
I feel books will maintain a place of importance. There is a wealth of information on the internet to be sure, but due to the fact it is so easily accessible, it is possible that some individuals offering information may not be qualified to do so. In the end I am very happy to have BOTH! I love using the internet to search for information and I also love to browse bookstores and purchase books. One good thing about a book is that you can take it anywhere and there’s no battery to recharge or run down. Interesting article, get’s people thinking.
Books are still necessary and will always be. Nothing can replace them. Today’s forums and blogs also have lot of wrong information. There is almost no such problem with books.
Books are most definitely necessary. I doubt I’d want a doctor or an airplane mechanic to have to rely solely on web sites and blogs to get the “book learning” that they need to function in their professions.
I think that books are definitely necessary for personal and professional success.
@Matej,
Does it really matters from where you read informations that are valuable for you? I will always read books ( Kindle ? ) because I hate looking at screen.
I’m a avid blog reader and writer… however books are definitely necessary. You may use an iphone kindle app or the audio version; however books will always be necessary.
I think yes definitely books are still necessary, although many people seem to think that for books to carry value, they also have to pad with fluff – otherwise a book probably would fit into a few blog posts.