ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How Reading and Lived Experience Transform Us

Updated on May 22, 2025
http://bit.ly/2ezNDJr
http://bit.ly/2ezNDJr

"The Only Source of Knowledge is Experience."

Albert Einstein believed that. And maybe experience is the best teacher.
But that might not be the whole picture.

Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote:
"All that I know about my life, it seems, I have learned in books."

Knowledge expands and enriches our lives.
We gain it through both experience and books, yet the two offer very different kinds of exposure.

All that I know about my life, it seems, i have learned in books. Jean Paul Sartre
All that I know about my life, it seems, i have learned in books. Jean Paul Sartre

What Books Teach Us

To begin with, the knowledge we gain from experience is acquired differently than the knowledge we gain from books.

Experience teaches in direct ways. Surprisingly, this idea is supported by a writer himself:

“Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”
Oscar Wilde

A striking statement from an author. We might conclude that Wilde valued books, but not necessarily for their instructional power. Given that his life was a rollercoaster of wise and reckless choices, his insight carries weight.

Books, on the other hand, mediate knowledge.
Direct experience may be ideal, but life has limits. Not every opportunity to learn by doing is available to us.

Some experiences are simply out of reach: time travel, life in space, or the ancient world. Science fiction and fantasy let us explore what isn’t yet possible.

  • How can a child understand adult life?

  • How can a woman learn from a man’s point of view, and vice versa?

Books also offer a fast, vivid way to see how people live in other parts of the world.

In the end, experience and books take different paths to knowledge, but both lead us somewhere meaningful.


Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. Oscar Wilde
Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. Oscar Wilde

How Knowledge Is Gained

Experience and books differ not only in content but also in how much time and effort they demand to turn information into true knowledge.

Experience, to become deep knowledge, requires extra effort.

“It takes time to live. Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about.”
— Albert Camus

The more we experience—and the more we reflect on those experiences—the wiser we become. Time, repetition, and attention all play a role.

Malcolm Gladwell, in Outliers, argues that it takes around 10,000 hours of practice to reach mastery in a field. Guided experience accelerates this process, but mentors aren't always available.

Books, by contrast, place knowledge right at our fingertips.

They reveal how others have already done something, what worked, what failed. They help us learn faster, sparing us from some of the trial and error. In some cases, they even help us avoid mistakes altogether. As Carl Sagan once said:

“The library connects us with [...] the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history…”

In short, experience and books differ in how they use—and demand—our two most precious resources: time and effort.


It takes time to live. Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about. Albert Camus
It takes time to live. Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about. Albert Camus

Knowledge Without Wisdom

Another key difference between experience and books lies in how subjectivity influences the knowledge we gain from each.

Perception shapes the knowledge we get from experience.
Who we are at the moment of experiencing something is decisive.

Confidence and self-assurance are valuable qualities. But no matter how open-minded we try to be, knowledge seen from only one perspective remains incomplete. On its own, experience may not turn knowledge into a multifaceted, diamond-like insight.

What’s more, our brains are quick to confabulate—to fill in the gaps with made-up explanations, even if they’re wrong. When information is missing, we invent it.

Books, on the other hand, offer more than one point of view.

They come from people who’ve had the time to reflect, to research, and to move beyond their own biases. Authors often construct entire worlds of perspective through the voices of other characters.

Important subjects are also approached by many authors—often in contradictory ways. This creates a rich field of exploration for the curious reader.

In the end, subjectivity shapes experience and books in very different ways—and that shapes the kind of knowledge we gain from each.

 The library connects us with ...the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history Carl Sagan
The library connects us with ...the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history Carl Sagan

Books and Experience: A Loving Dialogue

You can see how both experience and books offer lessons.

What experience teaches is more direct, less thorough, and more subjective. Yet it leaves a lasting mark, etched into memory.

Books, on the other hand, offer knowledge in a mediated, thoughtful, and often more objective way. They may not replace experience, but they can deepen it.

Experience cannot replace books. In fact, it’s best savored alongside them.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)