Location: A mountain hut somewhere in the Alps. My friend and I are sitting at a wooden table, studying the menu.

Adam: I noticed you have that thick book in your backpack…

Me: Yeah. It’s On Power by Bertrand de Jouvenel.

Adam: Why are you reading that?

Me: The title got me interested and I wanted to challenge my brain anyway.

Adam: Have you read it this weekend?

Me: Honestly? Not really. Between all the hiking, there wasn’t much time.

Adam: I don’t see the point of reading non-fiction books. Fiction yes. But non-fiction?

Me: What do you mean?

Adam: It’s a waste of time. There are websites with summaries of all those books. I’m sure someone’s already summarized On Power.

Me: But why should I do that for non-fiction but not for fiction books?

Adam: Because fiction you read for enjoyment.

Me: And non-fiction isn’t enjoyable?

Adam: It’s meant to be practical. You read it to get something useful.

Me: So you think a book about power teaches something useful? I thought it’s rather abstract.

Adam: Maybe not immediately practical, but it could give you ideas, you could use in your business or life.

Me. Fair enough.

Adam: How many pages of this book have you read already?

Me: Only around 40 pages. The book takes some time to get into.

Adam: See? If you just read the summary, you’d be done in a day. This way, you could read 365 books a year and would learn tons of principles and concepts for your life. Instead you slowly grind through one book for weeks. That’s not efficient.

Me: I don’t hink that summaries have the same depth as the real book. Sure, you get the general principle, but the lack the nuances. There are so many more details not covered by a summary.

Adam: Can you tell me some details you have learned so from On Power?

Me: I have just finished the first chapter, but here are some thoughts I have about it.

(I explain the main points.)

Adam: That doesn’t sound deeper than anything you could find on the internet.

Me: Maybe not, but there are also tons of things you soak up unconsciously when reading a book. Thinks that I can’t remember right now but might come to the surface later in life.

Adam: I still tink it’s a waste of time.

Me: So why didn’t we take the car.

Adam: What?

Me: There is a road going to this alpine pasture. With a car we would have been here in less than 30 minutes, instead we hiked for hours.

Adam: This is not the same.

Me: ….

Adam: ….

Me: This apple strudel looks delicious.

Adam: Yes, but the Kaiserschmarren is a blast here.

Me: Then that’s what I’ll have.