In Buffett and Munger’s era — or, more broadly, in the age before the internet was woven into daily life — printed books were the only meaningful medium for acquiring information. That world is gone. Today, “reading” can no longer be confined to paper or e-books; reading the news, working through online essays, and listening to substantive podcasts all belong in the same category.
In fact, the best online articles and podcasts often deliver more value than books. Why? Most publishers today are first and foremost in the business of making money. The moment a book takes off, the publisher pressures the author to crank out a string of follow-ups — and the quality and density of information in those sequels falls off a cliff. On top of that, publishers demand a certain word count. So many nonfiction books I’ve finished could have their entire thesis distilled into a single paragraph, but the author was told to pad the manuscript. That’s exactly why better mediums for learning have emerged: well-written online articles and serious podcasts.
Articles and podcasts aren’t bound by any of those constraints, and the information is far more timely. The book in your hands may have been printed years ago — but if you want to understand any given topic right now, you can always find something written in the past few weeks.
The kicker? It’s free.
The way I see it, instead of calling it “reading,” we should generalize the act to “learning.” Read more thoughtful essays. Listen to more substantive podcast interviews. And don’t just consume what you already like — deliberately seek out what you don’t. Endlessly feeding yourself only the things you want to hear, while shielding your mind from everything else, is the surest path to becoming narrow. Give the topics and disciplines you instinctively dismiss a chance to show you what they’re made of. One day you’ll come to see their beauty — and one day, without your even noticing, they’ll quietly shape a decision in your favor.
Admitting your own ignorance is the gateway to wisdom.
Zhengyang Yao
Santa Clara
May 10, 2026