I can attest that this indeed works. However, the downside is that you run the risk of becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none. The trick is to learn about everything while mastering at least one field, subject, or trade.

It's effective if you just want to increase your knowledge in general. There's nothing worse than a person who thinks they know everything but have never even looked at a book or researched a topic on anything. That's why I love my books. If I don't know something I can always look it up. And yes I know everything can be googled but sometimes a computer isn't available and it's not as much fun as a book.