Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
P.S. I've heard the "if you don't know what you need to search for" argument before, and I don't quite buy it. People who have no idea what they're looking for typically aren't looking for anything. And even if they were, manually wading through enormous, alphabetized, electronic indices is unlikely to focus their efforts very much.
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I think this is a limited way of perceiving the breadth with which readers engage with books. From personal experience, I can recall spending days fascinated with the mysteries of an encyclopedia. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but was simply curious about learning new things.
In a way, I was plumbing new depths of understanding of the world I was born into. Not by the focused act of searching, but by discovery.
I think some - not many, but some - books lend themselves to that wideranging form of learning. I think for instance, that people who are strongly motivated to deepen their understanding of their religion are much helped by guidance in the form of an index, or similar means.