C h a r a c t e r7 9people on the planet lack the resources to enjoy this experience,
and are reluctant to join al- Qa’ida in order to have it for free. They
must settle for reading travel books instead. If wealth were shared
more equally, however, a lot more people might be able to swarm
over the area, provided they were willing to risk getting shot. One
advantage of reading a Lonely Planet guidebook on the place is
that nobody is likely to plug you with a bullet for doing so. In the
nineteenth century, literature was sometimes recommended to the
working classes as a way of feeling what it was like to ride to hounds
or marry a viscount, since they were not able to do these things in
reality. There have been more persuasive arguments for why poems
and novels are worth reading.