And Jobs thought of this in 1990!

Another reason to be amazed by Jobs? Watch this video. Remember, Jobs is still in exile from apple, after being fired. He would return a few years later. But he hits the idea of gaming as a learning tool and how to view ebooks on the head. Over two decades ago.

And he was totally right.

The interviewer asks Jobs about the importance of libraries in the digital age. He states one of the steadfast defenses of libraries. The interviewer reminisces about walking in to a library and being inspired by the books. You know how this goes, you walk into a library and go to your desired section and then just get swallowed up by all of various books on the subject - books and titles and views on that subject that we couldn't have ever imagined.

As one who routinely experienced this in college (I remember walking the stacks at the AC Clark library and finding and then reading books on the historical Jesus Christ, Joan of Ark, the medical effects of Nuclear War, the life and poems of Arthur Rimbaud, and the amazing works of Donald Murray). But, come on, how many members of the general public - regardless of their generation - have ever experienced this?

It's the nostalgia with which we shower libraries (and I'm not anti-library at all), but I just think people toss this memory out in defense of libraries when the person doing the tossing likely never, ever experienced this.

Usually, when the argument is stated, it is to defend libraries against computers or ebooks.

I bet, though, when you compare people who have had their epiphany moments buried in the stacks of a library or experienced them on wikipedia, google, or amazon, the comparison is totally one sided.

And Jobs gets that. I love when he talks about the locomotion of primates. Humans - on their own - are pretty paltry compared to the physical exertion of animals. But the one thing that totally changes that into our favor is our ability to create and use tools. Compare the locomotion and energy a man generates on a bicycle to the locomotion and energy of any animal on earth. The computer is the same type of tool. Only for our brains.

I guess in the best of learning experiences, we walk into a media center (the modern version of a library) with our Iphone in our pocket, our MacBook in our back pack (or satchel if you're cool like me (and Indiana Jones)), and several books - along with our kindle - tucked under our arms.