I all depends on the quality. If the hardcover uses non acid-free paper and glued binding, it is going to last almost as long as a paperback (not worth the price at all). If a hardcover is bound in cloth or leather, has acid-free paper and smyth-sewn binding, then it will probably outlive you while still being in excellent condition.

Think of it this way; it is YOU who are making those choices, they are YOUR choices, it’s just that it was predetermined that you would make that one specific choice. Our environment, the way we were raised influences our choices and so the past in a way determines the future. If you want to get into the physics of it all, randomness does exist but as far as we know only at a quantum level; the bigger events are deterministic in nature. And about the whole crime/punishment thing just as someone “had no choice” but to commit a crime, the judge also “has no choice” but to punish that person. You are responsible for your own choices, it’s just that they are predetermined.