You can get 20% return on stocks per year if you are as good as Buffet.
But books and reading have a much higher return!
The cost of a book is basically cost-plus, including those paid to the author. It’s relatively small sum of money – likely less than a meal.
The price is similar for every one. It’s up to each reader to capture all the upside to him/herself. No price discrimination.
The paper and the printing are basically similar across books – different words on a single page don’t mean they cost differently. Therefore, an amazing book costs the same as any other books (well, royalties, length, quality of paper may differ, but you know what I mean).
Put it another way, a good reader can get higher value from reading books, without increasing costs, if he/she can pick “high value” books (for him/herself).
It’s like Nvidia pays similar prices as others for the same wafer to TSMC, but gets higher value/return from it.
Besides money, readers are also investing their time. So, the return of reading a book could be even higher if he/she can read more efficiently, reducing time spent while still get most of the stuff.
It’s like fitting a few more chips onto one wafer.
What’s more impressive? TSMC has a high market share and some bargain power, but printing books seem to be very fragmented and has very good availability.
Enjoy reading great books! That’s likely a higher return investment than Nvidia selling chips.