People use the net to find a wider array of information than they did before, but they don't go as deep. On the other hand, book readers are much pickier in choosing the topics they delve into. I could probably go through my entire cycle of sites in the time it takes me to pick out a book at Borders.

I'll never forget stumbling across the 17th century tulip craze in a book from my public library. I never heard another word about it until a Matt Taibbi article a couple months ago. On a long enough timeline horizontal browsing intersects with information once reserved for those who dig deep, but how many almanacs would you have to read to know as much as a librarian?