Well, we've already made the assumption that Parent knows who Picasso is, and for this hypothetical situation I've assumed Friend is not familiar. The rrst of the assumptions follow naturally in one if litsrally hundreds possible outcomes.
Yes, everyone could go read books and get just the facts, but what good are they if we don't use them to communicate and form relationships with other humans? We'd never leave libraries, never grow as people, never form meaningful connections that lead to new and different discoveries.
You're an archeologist, right? What if these ancient cultures you study and discover didn't leave behind clues and patterns to their culture from which you determine patterns of behavior, or extrapolate that the sharss of pottery buried in thousands years of dirt are actually part of a burial teadition that has it's roots in magical nomadic tribes half a continent away? You take those facts you uncover, and use your personal experiences and research for formulate hypotheses as to the function of those pottery shards, right?
And whonis to say that the vooks have the correct information to begin with? Books are no more accurate than those who wrote them.