Anonymity is the true freedom.

Anyway this "old book" was printed before the use of computers.

And phone calls have a higher cost. So no vocal spam existed on phone.

And you could request to not be on this book too.

Nowadays :

- Some steal your personal datas and much more than your phone or address but also your age, bank, familty, relationship... directly from hacking

- There is more and more KYC laws that collect more and more datas on you without your consent (and you can't avoid it)

- All the data collected are backed up forever, you can't delete them even if you request it.

Definitely i would prefer the time of an old book with address, than today were privacy is just more and more treated like a joke or suspicious behavior.