Books

 This week, I do not have a specific book to recommend to you. Instead, I want to highlight a couple of thoughts about books:

1. You should buy books.

2. You should read books.

There we go.

Oh, you want more details? 

First, you should buy books. I'm a big advocate of e-Readers, especially dedicated e-readers like the Amazon Kindle (or the Kobo, etc.,). We've had Kindles here since the Kindle Keyboard/Kindle 3, which was 2010, I believe. There are times those are just perfect: most of our fiction buys we make these days are on Kindle. This cuts down on shelf space and on move headaches.

Some we still get in hardcopy, and most of our non-fiction we get in hardcopy. Also, most of the children's books we have (like Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct by Mo Willems) are in hardcover. 

Why? Mainly because it's much easier to just pick up a regular book and read it. You can casually grab one, spend a few minutes, then move on. When you have kids in your home, you want them to be able to do this. You also want kids to know that it's a good adult habit as well: reading is a good thing. (I also have kid-friendly books in my office for the same reason: to encourage reading.)

It's also easier to read a book and stay focused than it is to read on an app. I know dedicated e-readers don't have some of those distractions, so it's quite the same, but if you have a book in your hand, it's obvious you've got a book in your hand. And you aren't doing much else, like also tracking stock prices and weather reports. 

And these days, another reason to get the printed version of the book is that you can't change it once you have it. That may leave you with an error-riddled tome in your hands, but also means you have the knowledge at-hand even if someone makes changes to the servers that feed your connected books. As an aside, you also are far better off with books printed in countries with a "freedom of the press" mindset. Many books are printed in countries where even exported material has to pass government approval. A history of the People's Republic of China approved in Beijing could look very different than one printed in Wyoming.

It's true that the World Book Encyclopedia on the shelf behind me is marginally out-of-date in some areas. But you can't erase the entries, either.

There's also nothing like coming across an older book, leafing through it to see what it contains. 

Now, the other advice: you should read books.

Books stretch your attention span. Books expand your horizons. Books are a key to unlock ideas and places you've never seen or been. They aren't just for show. They're for learning.

And that may mean you wear out the good ones. Go ahead and have some spares!