These are coffee table books about interesting/ironic details of our world, not any actual reshaping. I used to read such books in the pursuit of being an "intellectual," then picked up Marcus Aurelius and realized how puerile all the coffee-table folderol really is.
Too many people would rather not deal with the difficulties of reading foundational works. The task of reading coffee-table folderol is much easier than having to actually rethink what you know when you read works that have stood the test of time. I, too, am guilty of having read too many coffee-table books and have only really started to learn now that I avoid those books. Picking up a kindle and a tablet have especially helped in my newfound pursuit of knowledge because, ironically, the most valuable books/articles/essays tend to be freely available online.
