Books Are the Most Quality Learning Materials

Not all learning materials are made equal. Some are higher quality, while others are pumped out with low-effort.

Among all the media that let's you learn something, I personally prefer books, or some reading material in general.

A book lets you absorb information at your own pace. You can slow down and re-read some part that you didn't understand, or skim over what you already know to prevent yourself from being bored.

Contrast this to some video lecture or even an actual lecture. While during the fact it may feel less effortful to take in the information, you can often catch yourself letting your attention drift. Books only advance when you're paying attention.

I do admit that reading a book takes effort, and the dread of this effort might but off-putting. But I do think they are the highest effort-reward proposal for learning material out there.

Think about it: An author, most likely a field expert, has spent years designing and editing that book to produce an instrument capable of conveying a huge amount of information in an specific field, all in a fraction of the time it took the author themselves to learn it and to grasp it.

It is simply wonderful this being possible and that often material is available for many fields and subjects. One could argue that precisely the power given by the printed material to transfer personal experience and expertise to a huge audience (all without the author being physically present) is what fueled all the Industrial, Scientific and Information revolutions.