I found this question on Quora this morning, and I find it very interesting. Below, I’ve included a few of the best arguments on both sides:

pro-books:

It’s only 40m.

If you could truly, totally absorb and master the contents of one book per week, 40m would be chump change before very long.

• Week1: A language book; my salary doubles.
• Week2: A doctorate level book on CompSci or CompSec. My salary triples.
• Week3: A book on nanotech or AI. I name my salary.
• Week4: A book on geology - guess who corners the new oil market?
• Week5: You get the picture =)

pro-money:

WTF?

$40m. It’s not that hard to read more than a book a week. And, like [someone] mentioned, that’s enough money to hire a small research staff for life.

After discussing these arguments with a few friends, I find myself in the pro-books camp. My rationale is that more knowledge leads to more happiness. There is always this risk of knowing too much, but I think that knowing more gives you a higher probability of leaving a mark on the world.

What would you choose?