As a person practicing Buddhism of a particular school since 18 years, I feel the need to add 2 cents here:
As reading books on Buddhism is for sure beneficial, there is no way to really enter the methods just by using books; one becomes a buddhist by meeting a teacher and following his instructions. At that step books are immensely helpful. Especially if they are the books specialized on particular lineage of methods and teachings.
On the other hand, by reading books alone, like: for years, one can rather become a buddhologist, not a buddhist. That's the statistics, although everything is an illusion, so everything is possible ;)
As reading books on Buddhism is for sure beneficial, there is no way to really enter the methods just by using books; one becomes a buddhist by meeting a teacher and following his instructions. At that step books are immensely helpful. Especially if they are the books specialized on particular lineage of methods and teachings.
On the other hand, by reading books alone, like: for years, one can rather become a buddhologist, not a buddhist. That's the statistics, although everything is an illusion, so everything is possible ;)