cial.
experience， however， is limited in terms of time and space. for one thing， it is impossible for anyone to experience all the important events and meet all the famous people. for another， as the speed with which skills are obsolete and new problems crop up is unprecedented because of the fast development of society， experience is far less adequate. depending too much on it only leads to narrow-mindedness and prejudice.
one way to compensate for it is to read books. books of various kinds can bring us almost unlimited additional experience. from books you can not only trace back to the wisdom of our antecedents， but keep up with the latest developments of science and technology. to be sure， it's secondhand experience. but it is the ideal supplement to our own limited experience. few of us can travel around the world， or live long beyond one hundred years， but all of us can live many lives by reading books.
both book knowledge and personal experience are esse