Contrary to popular thought, I find that the Internet is best for finding objective facts, while books are better for opinions and reflections.
The Internet cannot be touched when it comes to fact-finding. Looking up a fact on Wikipedia, a statistic on Wolfram Alpha, or a word at dictionary.com is exponentially faster than locating the same information in a library. Moreover, many facts are not considered important enough for someone to put them in a book.
Also, modern society moves way too fast for books to be used as reference - especially the fields of geography and technology. Books of factual knowledge almost aren't worth printing anymore due to the speed at which they become outdated. Any book about a political conflict will end up referencing a country that doesn't exist within a few years, and a book about computer will probably be obsolete in a matter of months. You just can't find up-to-date information in books like you can on the Internet.
Yes, there are a lot of lies on the Internet, but the good news is, most Internet liars aren't very good at it; detecting a bias in a Wikipedia article is fairly easy, for example. Easier, at least, then trying to find something in a library.
On the other hand, if you want to hear expert opinions or reflections of history or philosophy, the Internet sucks. Most of the opinions expressed on it are ridiculously immature and uninformed. When is the last time you saw someone back up their online argument with facts? Books are best here; they are usually written by respectable authors who make solid, intelligent arguments and will not fail to put their money where their mouth is.
So yeah, keep the F/A-18 flight characteristics on the Internet and the reflections on Hitler's motives in books.
The Internet cannot be touched when it comes to fact-finding. Looking up a fact on Wikipedia, a statistic on Wolfram Alpha, or a word at dictionary.com is exponentially faster than locating the same information in a library. Moreover, many facts are not considered important enough for someone to put them in a book.
Also, modern society moves way too fast for books to be used as reference - especially the fields of geography and technology. Books of factual knowledge almost aren't worth printing anymore due to the speed at which they become outdated. Any book about a political conflict will end up referencing a country that doesn't exist within a few years, and a book about computer will probably be obsolete in a matter of months. You just can't find up-to-date information in books like you can on the Internet.
Yes, there are a lot of lies on the Internet, but the good news is, most Internet liars aren't very good at it; detecting a bias in a Wikipedia article is fairly easy, for example. Easier, at least, then trying to find something in a library.
On the other hand, if you want to hear expert opinions or reflections of history or philosophy, the Internet sucks. Most of the opinions expressed on it are ridiculously immature and uninformed. When is the last time you saw someone back up their online argument with facts? Books are best here; they are usually written by respectable authors who make solid, intelligent arguments and will not fail to put their money where their mouth is.
So yeah, keep the F/A-18 flight characteristics on the Internet and the reflections on Hitler's motives in books.