I used to think books were special, too. Having thousands of books is expensive: they are literally expensive, you buy or build shelves for them, they take up a lot of space, they're extremely painful to move, you have to organize them, and you keep mental space for them -- I own this book, I don't own that one -- otherwise, you might as well not have them. You don't use them constantly. Moreover, you can get an instant electronic copy or a physical copy in minutes, or at most a day (Amazon prime).

Also, you confuse quality (good) and fragility. Most of the stuff I have is very high quality, which is why I use it every day and I don't have to worry about it falling apart.