Whichismoreimportantinlife,knowledgefromthebooksyouread,orpersonalexperienceyougaininreality?Theanswermayvaryfrompersontoperson。Theyoung,educatedmayemphasizetheformer,andtheoldmaystressthelater。Butinmyopinion,theyareofthesameimportance。
Experienceispriceless。Howtobecomeanefficientsecretary?Howtoprepareforyourfirstchildtocomeintotheworld?Thereissomuchexperienceweneedincareers,inlifeandeveninacademicstudies。Ithelpsonedealwiththeproblemswitheaseandconfidence。Especiallyactivitiesandtoaccumulateexperienceofdifferentkindsismorecrucial。
Experience,however,islimitedintermsoftimeandspace。Foronething,itisimpossibleforanyonetoexperiencealltheimportanteventsandmeetallthefamouspeople。Foranother,asthespeedwithwhichskillsareobsoleteandnewproblemscropupisunprecedentedbecauseofthefastdevelopmentofsociety,experienceisfarlessadequate。Dependingtoomuchonitonlyleadstonarrow-mindednessandprejudice。
Onewaytocompensateforitistoreadbooks。Booksofvariouskindscanbringusalmostunlimitedadditionalexperience。Frombooksyoucannotonlytracebacktothewisdomofourantecedents,butkeepupwiththelatestdevelopmentsofscienceandtechnology。Tobesure,it"ssecondhandexperience。Butitistheidealsupplementtoourownlimitedexperience。Fewofuscantravelaroundtheworld,orlivelongbeyondonehundredyears,butallofuscanlivemanylivesbyreadingbooks。
Bothbookknowledgeandpersonalexperienceareessential。Whileexperiencemakesonemoreresourceful,bookknowledgemakesonemorelearned。