worthy vs worthwhile

Question

I found some examples in Oxford dictionary,

The matter is hardly worthy of the managing director's time.

In Mason we have a worthy new champion.

Several of our members are worthy of particular mention.

She felt she was not worthy to be on the stage with all these glamorous people.

where the word worthy means

having the qualities that deserve somebody/something.

Does that mean I could use worthy in this way?

I think it is worthy for you to read the book.

I think it is worthwhile for you to read the book.

In that case, what’s the difference between worthy and worthwhile?

Answer 1

As you say, worthy means "having the qualities that deserve somebody/something". Putting that into your sentence,

I think it has the qualities that deserve for you to read the book.

The problem is that it's the book that's worthy of you reading it, not this "it". You can use worthy, but you have to change the sentence to make the book the thing that is worthy:

I think the book has the qualities that deserve for you to read it.

Putting back the word worthy and tidying up what it is worthy of, you get:

I think that the book is worthy of your reading it.

That noun phrase your reading it is grammatically correct, but not very nice. A more idiomatic sentence would be:

I think that the book is worthy of your attention.

Where the listener would assume that the required attention for a book would be reading it.

Answer 2

They are two different words

• Worthy: having or showing the qualities or abilities that merit recognition in a specified way. --> deserving

• worthwhile: worth the time, money, or effort spent; of value or importance --> worth doing

The matter is hardly worthy (deserving) of the managing director's time

In Mason we have a Worthy (deserving) new champion.

Several of our members are (deserving) of particular mention.

~

I think it is worthy for you to read the book. (X)

I think it is worthwhile for you to read the book. (O)

• Something is worthwhile to do (worth the time, money, or effort spent to do)

• Someone/ something is worthy (deserving) of getting something (honor, recognition, etc.)

More example:

I am worthy of the reward I get (I deserve to get the reward)

The reward is worthwhile to fight for (The reward is worth fighting for)

Answer 3

“Worthwhile” could be said to mean “worth the while”, where “while” would refer to the time you would spend reading it. It means that reading the book would be valuable to you, and worth the time spent reading it; you’re exchanging your time for whatever value the book provides.

In using the word “worthy”, you’d either be referring to the reader as worthy or the book as worthy.

I think it would be very worthy of you to read this book.

Here we’re saying that the reader would be proving themselves worthy by reading the book. Perhaps they are demonstrating their interest and sincere desire to learn, or to consider a viewpoint different to their own.

I think this book is worthy of your reading it.

Here we’re saying that the book is worthy of your time and energy. This is the same as saying that reading it would be worthwhile to you.