Information barrels down on people like a relentless convoy of eighteen-wheelers. Books, magazines, the web—the available resources are excellent and helpful but overwhelming. What sources are important?
I'm gradually being disabused of the notion that all this information matters. The Enlightenment suggested that if we could just get more information, we'd be better people. I don't believe that anymore, which has helped me be less compulsive about my reading. The feeling that we've got to read all these things can be an idol.
I would rather know a few things well than a lot of things pretty well. I'm told this happens when we get older. I'm more accepting of what my genuine interests and strengths are, and I'm going with those. I'm not driven to expand into areas I'm not so good at. When I was 25, I wanted to be a renaissance man, but I've finally given up. For example, I don't read much science anymore because I'm just not strong in it.
I still read a lot, though, and despite what I tell myself, I still feel a little compulsive about it. I'm not reading for information as much as for perspective. With everything I have to juggle, I'm always trying to find where the fulcrum is on this mass, the perspective that will help me make sense out of things. In magazines I might scan a book review, but if there's a good article that synthesizes a lot of ideas and will give me perspective, I'll read that.
