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Originally Posted by tubemonkey
Personally, I don't see the need for a dictionary. I read books for pleasure, not assignment.
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It depends what sort of books you read, I suppose.
I am very partial to 19th century novels, in which one encounters all sorts of words that are no longer in common use. Although one can sometimes guess the meaning of these from context, it enriches the reading experience to be able to look them up.
Here's a sentence from Anthony Trollope's "Barchester Towers":
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Thus clad she peered out into the tent, went to the ha-ha, and satisfied herself that at any rate the youngsters were amusing themselves, spoke a word to Mrs Greenacre over the ditch, and took one look at the quintain.
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Now, without looking in the dictionary, do you know what a "ha-ha" is? What about a "quintain"?