"But I might learn something if I read that"

Yes, that's exactly what she said.

I was at a conference the other day, and when I recommended a book to someone, panic flashed across her face.

As media gets ever more nichey (is nichey a word? If it isn't, it should be), it's now easy to expose yourself only to messages you already agree with, to see things you already know.

It's comforting to be reminded that you're right. It's good for your ego to discover that you already know everything that's important so you can go back to doing what you were doing yesterday.

But where's the growth in that?

There's more information on more topics on blogs and in the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia than has ever been published before in the history of the planet.

And yet, with all this data, most of us resist the opportunity to obtain information. We don't want to be confused or stressed or put in a position where we might, just maybe, make a mistake.

What a shame.