"learning from people is much easier than learning from books.": I doubt that, my experiences were mixed. Only from one lecture I learned much, because concepts whose reputation of extreme difficulty had inhibited me from reading on them were discussed in a very nice and relaxed 'matter of fact' way. But usually, lecture's contents are covered by books or articles which can more quickly be read instead. Personal communication depends on the participants personalities, which can be distorted by professional envy and selfishness in some cases, some people just can't admit that they don't know everything. Some thoughts on learning etc.: 1 ,2.

"learning from people is much easier than learning from books.": I doubt that, my experiences were mixed. Only from one lecture I learned much, because concepts whose reputation of extreme difficulty had inhibited me from reading on them were discussed in a very nice and relaxed 'matter of fact' way. But usually, lecture's contents are covered by books or articles which can more quickly be read instead. Personal communication depends on the participants personalities, which can be distorted by professional envy and selfishness in some cases, some people just can't admit that they don't know everything. Some thoughts on learning etc.: 1 ,2.

"learning from people is much easier than learning from books.": I doubt that, my experiences were mixed. Only from one lecture I learned much, because concepts whose reputation of extreme difficulty had inhibited me from reading on them were discussed in a very nice and relaxed 'matter of fact' way. But usually, lecture's contents are covered by books or articles which can more quickly be read instead. Personal communication depends on the participants personalities, which can be distorted by professional envy and selfishness in some cases, some people just can't admit that they don't know everything.

"learning from people is much easier than learning from books.": I doubt that, my experiences were mixed. Only from one lecture I learned much, because concepts whose reputation of extreme difficulty had inhibited me from reading on them were discussed in a very nice and relaxed 'matter of fact' way. But usually, lecture's contents are covered by books or articles which can more quickly be read instead. Personal communication depends on the participants personalities, which can be distorted by professional envy and selfishness in some cases, some people just can't admit that they don't know everything. Some thoughts on learning etc.: 1 ,2.