It is such a wonderful playground. A source of ready information and quick facts. A replacement for my own missing gray cells. A place to read about people's lives. I think I want to read, but I can't quite remember why.
Libraries are great and fantastic and irreplaceable, but they only go so far.
There is still nothing like going to a place full of books and leafing through them, old and new. But the Internet as virtual library has a special place in my heart, as well. As a result, I feel less stupid now. This mass pooling of passions and obsessions on the 'net has given me access to information only the obsessed and passionate used to know. It creates an institutional human memory that is not based solely on access.