While blowing through RSS feeds this morning, I found Seth Godin’s latest post, Learning all the time.  I had two reactions.

First, I wouldn’t equate reading blogs to continuous learning; I know people who go through blogs and don’t seem to learn anything – there’s no change.  You can gain knowledge or you can learn; learning is about internalizing change to improve.

My second reaction relates to a conversation I had with my sister years ago.  She asked me if I’d ever thought I wouldn’t go to college, and of course I said no – that just wasn’t an option.  And my parents didn’t order us to go, or somehow force us; instead, they somehow instilled in us the desire to learn.  My mom used to buy me comic books because it was better for me to read those than to not read at all.  When 2001: A Space Odyssey came out, my mom, a librarian at the time, brought a copy home for me to read (my sister had to take me to see the movie for my mom to let her go, and I liked it).

So I blame my parents for my love of reading (thank you, but I wish this hobby didn’t cost so much).

So when I mentored students at Tilton Elementary School in Chicago, I tried to get them to like to read, and I’ve organized reading programs for my teams at my last two companies (my team is currently reading Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web).

I see reading as one key leg that supports creativity.  So, go read a book!