[Leica] why read a book or article?

[Erwin Puts <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

Mr Gandy, in one of his most perceptive statements ever, observed 
that my writings would only prove the obvious and that is that "the 
newer design Leica lenses are almost always better than the older 
designs". Now this indeed is a view on industrial progress that has 
escaped almost every observer in the photographic scene and to cast 
the view  a bit wider I doubt if anyone in the world has observed 
this.  Cars and motorcycles, tv-sets, mobile phones, computers, 
bridges, roads, trucks, almost every industrial product that is on 
sale now is vastly improved  when compared to its predecessors. Some 
may not have noted it, but even Canon and Nikon and Hasselblad and 
Zeiss and Schneider and Rodenstock and Mamiya and Bronica lenses have 
improved.  Mr Gandy states that documenting the obvious, that is that 
current products are improved versus previous generations, is a 
futile exercise. He at least knows this already and reading about it 
is a waste of time and only worth of consideration if no other 
pressing matters are at hand. So in his view we do not have to read 
any magazine that only notes the obvious. So do not read Cycle, 
because it will tell you that current Harley Davidsons are better 
than older ones, throw away your Car and Driver issues as they just 
tell you that new cars are improved versions of older ones. Why read 
any article or book that will tell you that we are in a state of 
evolution as Darwin already noted that only the fittest will survive 
and that is the best definition of "better".
Why read at all? If you already have made up your mind,  and this is 
an individual act of supreme importance, reading can do two things 
for you: support what you already know and than it  is a waste of 
time as it is redundant information or challenge what you think and 
that again is a waste of time as you made up your mind already and 
then it is useless information. So in any case as soon as you know 
what you know you can stop reading and what you know can be 
summarized quite easily: the world is in a state of progress to 
perfection and therefore new Leica lenses are better than older ones 
and as a corrollary: dealers of second hand Leica lenses will thrive 
as users of Leica lenses will insist in buying older lenses as these 
are less good than newer ones.

Erwin