Do you advise a student of knowledge to read books in their unedited form or in their edited and verified form?

Question:
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, this questioner says: What do you advise a student of knowledge regarding reading books? Do you advise him to read extensively in unedited texts, or to focus on verification and precision?

Answer:
By Allah, I still advise and repeat that one should not limit oneself to books, but rather seek knowledge from scholars as much as possible. Books are merely a means and a tool in the hands of a person; a scholar is necessary to explain them and train one in them. If you had a weapon and did not know how to use it, you might kill yourself with it rather than anyone else. You must be trained on this weapon by educated people. So a book is like a weapon; it needs a trainer to explain its meanings to you, clarify its scope, and elucidate it for you, otherwise there is no benefit. Yes.