For True Knowledge, Close the Laptop and Grab a Book

David Brooks rounds up the latest studies on books vs. the Internet as a learning tool and comes down squarely on the side of paper and ink. The web may be better at imparting facts, but books are better at imparting knowledge to interpret those facts. The Internet produces "better conversationalists," he writes, while books produce "better students." Brooks concedes that may someday change, but for now, there's no competition.

"The literary world is still better at helping you become cultivated, mastering significant things of lasting import," he writes in his New York Times column. "To learn these sorts of things, you have to defer to greater minds than your own. You have to take the time to immerse yourself in a great writer’s world. You have to respect the authority of the teacher." (More books stories.)