The First Emperor understood how important books were. He burned books and buried scholars in order to dominate the country. Every despot since then has known that control of knowledge is control of a nation. But it didn’t work for the First Emperor, and it will never work for any despot. There will always be books- which can be hidden, which need no technology to open, which are not virtual but real objects. Those who use them will not give them up easily.

That is why, even today, books are so revered. Books allow people to think for themselves, allow access to knowledge forgotten or even out of favor with the times. Books allow knowledge to travel over time and distances greater than the author could ever accomplish in person. Most important, books encourage allegiance not to kings, but to the learning of the individual. And that is crucial to Tao. – Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao