Many old books are different from today’s books. And readers were much more curious about the content of a book than  its title or cover page designs. Perhaps because of social media and many alternative forms of entertainment and sources of information.

However, I strongly believe the old ways always pay. The efforts put into reading, pondering and making notes will always be richly rewarding compared to quick options of skimming through write-ups to get a sense of what is being discussed.

I understand how busy life can be for us these days and what a convenience apps that summarize books and play them as audios could be.

However, they have their place and should not replace making time to read and make personal notes upon careful reflections.

Moreover, I think old books usually do not have titles that promise more than they can deliver. Many actually tend to teach much more than expected. A book on finance may teach something on relationships while trying to explain something about how finances work. Same book might comment on faith, might occasionally divert to comment on something about life in general. This enriches the mind of the reader.

I notice this even in old movies too. They tend to teach a lot more about so many life issues, sometimes even giving one ideas that can be transformed into money.

Many books today, remember I didn’t say all of them, are lean in terms of the nourishment they provide the reader. Many are narrowed in terms of the knowledge they try to impart and the writers sometimes pose as all knowing whereas I believe true writing involves sometimes admitting ignorance and only sharing one’s experiences and impressions, allowing the reader to draw their conclusions.

Forgive me if I seem to be making over generalizations. I certainly haven’t read every recent book and every old book. Just my observations based on the few I have read.

Furthermore, many books today have ambitious titles. You finish reading and the author was just trying to explain something very basic that wasn’t worth the time.

There are however books today that are mind-blowing, books that open one’s mind to so many ideas, truths and insights. I think these good books build on  previous knowledge.

The authors carefully study literature in their field and conduct new experiments to test and update on what they’ve learnt so that they can refine their findings to make them much more effective in addressing today’s problems.

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