You're viewing a single thread.
Nothing is more fun than guessing what arbitrary macguffin the DM has in mind. Or tirelessly asking if you see anything in this corner or that corner, or over there, or under the desk, or behind the tapestry.
It's all about balance. Looking under the desk and behind the tapestry area fun is you're not tired out from specifically looking in every corner. GM should mention important details and players can interact or not. There's not only extremes of gotcha hidden info and "roll investigation and survival to do the adventuring for you."
In my experience, it pays to have a conversation with the DM out of game time to tell them that they should probably describe whatever there is to see in the room.
If there's no time pressure and no traps, there's no reason you can't just say "I rummage through every shelf in NPCs personal library in search of the book!" or something.
Nothing is more fun than rolling for perception.