Every day I see somebody complaining that Americans are “shallow thinkers” now because we don’t read books. This is a shallow thought.
1. It’s hardly new. Very few people have the time or motivation to engage in philosophy.
2. Most people do a lot of deep thinking about their jobs, marriages, kids, money, etc. Books don’t help with these subjects. I used to read a lot of books and spend a lot of time thinking, but none of the books gave me any useful information about my job or life.
3. Newer “knowledge economy” jobs move too fast to make it into books. A book takes more than a year to write and publish, and by that time the info is obsolete. Even older jobs weren’t served well. When I started typesetting in 1971, I tried to find books in the library, but none were available. I would have learned a lot from one of the training films that existed at the time, but I had no way to access those films. Now you can find them on Youtube.
4. Since 1990 or so, most new books are shallow. Nearly all new books are partisan political speeches on the same side. I gave up reading in the 90s after too many disappointments.
Polistra's Mill 