Written by: Benit Shrestha - 21105, Grade XII
Posted on: 02 August, 2020
Did you know in the USA, about 32 billion trees are cut down every year to manufacture books? In the past, there were no alternatives other than books to gain knowledge from and this narrowed down the learning process. However, the application of virtual and conceptual means like the internet and life-experiences respectively is a more productive way of acquiring knowledge; rather than, sticking to plain-old books.
In contrast to books, the Internet is a far superior way of gathering credible information on a vast range of topics. A book has only the limited insight of the author; whereas, the internet is open to opinions and suggestions from a large crowd of individuals with different ideas. In addition to this, books are just compressed-textual embodiments of the human mind but experiencing reality first-hand is a more practical way of gaining an understanding. And in the end, no book can likely rival the knowledge acquired from real-life.
If we were to weigh the entire internet, its weight would come to be around 5gm. But the process of collecting books and maintaining them, with time will start to be a burden for most people. Similarly, things learned from exposure to real-life get stored in our brains that possess near to infinite holding-capacity. So, hoarding books and trying to learn whatever is feasible from them isn’t a productive thing to do. Especially, when there is an abundance of alternative ways of learning. For instance, in various parts of the world, we come across individuals who are highly skilled at doing something; even though they never had access to any books. This goes to show that the information limited within books doesn’t even hold a candle, in comparison, to the highly sophisticated knowledge of one’s imagination and experience.
Books are written mostly in the mother-language of the author and generally translated in English as a means to appeal to an international audience, but what about the people who don’t have fluency in English. In regard to this problem, the widespread availability of the Internet is a big relief for such people all over the world. With the use of translation software available on the web, anyone with internet access can get their hands on any form of literature as well as books of all subjects that can be read with easy understanding. Hence, the internet introduces us to a variety of things to study and learn from.
To sum it up, books as important as they may seem only to hold a fraction of what other far practical and technological sources of knowledge can offer. Therefore, one mustn’t only swim in the shallow pond of books but should try to dive deep in the abyss of real-life experience and the internet.
