As the ultimate goal to learn English
I am not a teacher of history class but let me ask you my question first. Why do you think there are a pile of books all around the world? The answer is easy. It is for recording of someone’s speaking, isn’t it? So, speaking language is the first, and then the language has been recorded on books to make someone to learn something. Remember, the reading is not the first things to do for learning foreign languages. The sense of sound of the language is very important. We should work on before we read. So, learning the pronunciation is the first, and then, you should learn listening, and then start reading in general.
To check this, what you can do is book discussion. If you could understand the sound of language by reading, you could store the vocabulary and context in your brain directly. When you meet someone, if you can summarize the book you read using the vocabulary, phrase you got. That is good. If not, you had better work on pronunciation. This is similar with copying music. Almost everyone can listen to music, but few can play after he listened to music. We need to play language like music, so you should get pronunciation (instruments), get vocabulary, phrases, and its meaning as accurate as possible (copy licks, phrases and its context) and then talk with native speakers (play appropriate situation).
However, once you have learned sound of language, reading book is the best way to learn English for two reasons. The best musician learns a lot from just reading the pieces.
It is because books are best source.
And who do you think write books? I am an experimental physicist. I am a professional physicist. I spend all weekdays on physics. Do you think I can deserve to write a book about my research area? The answer is totally no. Only top level people are allow to write books. Why don’t you know what top 1 percent people want people to know? This is applicable every area, Fiction to Science, every book was written by one of the best suitable person, and revised by publisher before you buy.
We do not need to catch up everything on news. The more you work on news you lose your strength in your professional area. Because everyone is reading and listening to news, which means the value of information fade so fast. You should work on specific topic you know better than anyone else, to be someone to say something. Do not waste your time reading news so much. If it should be known by you, you would notice or someone tells you. Do not worry.
It is because you learn at fastest speed.
Do you know how many words we can get a minute? You learn fastest by reading. A study shows that people feel comfortable when he listen to books at 160 wpm (words per minute). You can listen to an audio book at X2 speed (320 wpm) on the audible apps. But reading you can reach more than 500 wpm. The more you read, the faster you can read. We can grasp meaning several words, even several sentences at the same time. You know how smart your brain is. So, the reading is the most efficient way if you can speak well.
I will write the art of reading next. I have to mention TED as well. TED seems a strong competitor of books. I do not watch so much though.