A guiding hand must economically and profitably find and nurture authors. It must catalog and edit manuscripts, check facts, and shepherd words and ideas through a written journey from introduction to conclusion. It must oversee production, promotion, and distribution in a way that apportions revenue and protects future sales. The Internet cannot perform these functions. A traditional bookstore or library cannot complete all of these tasks.
Computers work well in document creation, editing, storage, and distribution.
But a fully functional computer cannot bring its display any closer to your eyes than the length of your bent arms because of its pointing device or keyboard. Typing posture and reading posture have little to nothing in common. Books transport and display knowledge and feelings in a comfortable, familiar format. Books have no learning curve for usage. They display a huge amount of textual and graphical information for their weight, cost, and size.