The web is, in its most basic form, text-based. Many companies are pouring loads of money into audio and video, but it’s simply practical to navigate the web with text.
Personally, I prefer text for many things. I have liked books ever since I was young, and in most cases, I prefer reading to listening. If I can get the text summary of a podcast, I definitely will. People ramble SO much, and that gets on my nerves. With text, by contrast, I can skip/skim the rambling.
Anyway, many/most books are purchased for a non-reading reason. I, myself, am guilty of this. I own so many books that look salient and that I hope to read someday. At the same time, my life has been changed by things I’ve read, so I strongly believe in the value of learning lessons. All this said, I strongly believe many or most books are purchased for what they can say on the outside rather than the inside. This means the marketplace price is not evaluating the content of the book.
This is all a long-winded way of saying that if you are considering buying books online, just don’t. You can find many books online for free. Check out:
• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page
• https://archive.org/details/texts
With any of the links above, there is a common problem: a veritable deluge of content. In order to get good results, you need strong preferences. Then, once you have your preferences defined, you need to keep them in mind, so as to get a satisfying outcome.
I know there are a lot of hype and fake promises insinuating you can simply use (so-called) AI for everything, but like… that isn’t even true, and I can prove it. If you simply use AI for everything, why read at all? Were the questions you ask at age 6 the same questions you ask at age 60? It seems that context and circumstances are extremely important elements of the reasons you’re using “AI,” yet they are not at all involved with any interactions with it. So, please explain to me how “AI” would have any awareness of those aspects.
AI can certainly be helpful for finding books, but the final step is always to get it into your brain, and that process isn’t simply getting words to your head. For instance, while you were reading, you remembered feeling beach sand on your feet as you walked on it one time when you were a child. A character in the story reminds you of an old friend, which causes you to remember a random trip you two took together when you were in high school. I could go on, but I think these examples have already made the point.