Ha, indeed. Books, lots and lots and lots of books. Fond memories of going to Powell's periodically to get more, but not as fond memories of having to learn everything about the computer using a book.

I don't think easier and simpler are necessarily aligned. Ancient hunter/gather life could be said as simpler, but also could be brutally difficult compared to all of the modern luxuries.

There might be more signal, but there's also a lot more noise.