About this quote

Most people end up thinking the way their information was shaped. Want a different view? Choose sources that pull against the grain of your usual reading list. Try one book this month from a field you ignore or a culture you don't know, and take a few notes on where it makes you uncomfortable. Small, steady choices like that widen what you can imagine and what you can argue for.

When to use it

• In a graduate literature seminar where everyone praises the same critic, I say, "I'm reading a translator's essays instead — it gives me a fresh angle for my paper."
• At a product team kickoff I tell the group, "Skip the usual market rundowns this week and bring a note from one odd book you wouldn't normally open."
• When I'm deciding where to invest my savings, I remind myself, "Don't only read mainstream analyst takes — read a few skeptical essays or a sector history first."
• Talking with my sister about parenting choices, I laugh and say, "I read a lot of unexpected stuff on purpose; it keeps my opinions from sounding like everyone else's."