In Buffett and Munger’s day — or, more broadly, in any era when the internet didn’t exist or hadn’t yet come into its own — getting information meant one thing: printed books. That’s no longer the world we live in. “Reading” today isn’t limited to paper or e-books; it might just as well mean reading the news, reading articles online, or listening to podcasts that actually teach you something.
If anything, those articles and podcasts are often worth more than books. Why? Because most publishers today are in it for the profit. When a book sells well, the publisher “pushes” the author to crank out a whole series of follow-ups — and the quality and density of the information fall off a cliff. Publishers also lean on authors to pad their word counts. Read plenty of nonfiction cover to cover and you’ll find the core idea could be stated in a sentence or two; the rest is filler the author was told to add. Which is exactly why better mediums for learning have emerged: online articles and podcasts.
Online articles and podcasts answer to none of those constraints, and they’re remarkably current — the book in your hands may have been published years ago, but whatever you want to learn about, you can always find something written recently.
Best of all, they cost you nothing.
The way I see it, we should stop calling it reading and start calling it what it really is: learning. Read more good essays, listen to more good interviews — and don’t just study what you love; study what you don’t. Consuming only what you want to see and dodging everything else will only make you narrower. Give the topics and disciplines you dislike one chance to show you what makes them worth knowing. Some day you’ll come to see their beauty, and some day — without your even noticing — they’ll quietly steer you toward a better decision.
Admitting your own ignorance is the gateway to wisdom.
Zhengyang Yao
Santa Clara
May 10, 2026