Serious answer: "a good idea" is something you can describe in a paragraph, or a few pages. A book is something that takes months or years to write, and may well be something read for pleasure, and thus does not have many positive externalities as per your comment above. IP is something you've got to be specific about: software patents are different from biotech patents which are different from copyrights on various things, which are all different from trademarks (which no one seems to complain about all that much).
Snarky answer, which I feel somewhat guilty about including, but I liked it too much to erase it: if you can't spot the difference between an idea and a book, perhaps exposure to more of both would be beneficial to you.
The conciseness with which an idea can be expressed is in no way related to the amount of work that went in to developing the idea, or the potential value of the idea to society.
FYI, trademark law is not based on the same constitutional foundation as copyright and patent law, and serves a different purpose, and is typically dealt with much more pragmatically than copyright and patent issues, so it's seldom relevant to the same discussions.
Snarky answer, which I feel somewhat guilty about including, but I liked it too much to erase it: if you can't spot the difference between an idea and a book, perhaps exposure to more of both would be beneficial to you.
No hard feelings, I guess I owe you a beer.