Reading books is one of the important methods of learning, but compared to blogs and other scattered content, reading is a more systematic, (time) lower cost, and more learned way of learning. When reading books, especially technical books, some friends often make some mistakes or are at a loss. This article shares some reading experience with you.
Book selection
The first step in reading is not how to read, but how to choose books. Only by choosing a better book can you get twice the result with half the effort.
At present, there are more and more reference data for choosing a book, such as: Zhihu, Douban, Amazon, Dangdang, etc. You can see book reviews and catalogs. On some platforms, trial chapters are also opened, which can help us filter out good books in a certain field.
Reading method
Books can be divided into two categories according to whether they are technical: technical books and non-technical books.
Technical books are more about a technology, framework, principle, algorithm, security, etc. Non-technical books are about science, history, philosophy, physics, etc.
For technical and non-technical books, the professional technical book reading method and the general thinking book reading method can be used respectively.
Pan Thinking
Books such as science, history, philosophy, and physics can help people improve the level of thinking and the realm of cognition. The core goal of reading is to "seize the topic."
The reading of this type of book can be divided into four levels: basic reading, inspection reading, analytical reading and thematic reading.
Through these four levels, we can not only understand what the book is talking about as a whole, but also understand the details, and finally achieve integration with our own thoughts and knowledge.
We will focus on technical books here, so we won’t expand the non-technical reading methods too much.
Novice reading
Reading technical books distinguishes between novices and experienced technicians.
For novices, the main purpose of reading a technical book is to get started. Novices are often asked what books to read. My general answer is: just go to the Internet and find a book with good reviews and good sales.
For novices, in fact, any book is effective, because there are so many basic grammars for getting started, and almost every book will cover it. There are not many skills in reading at this time: find a book, read it, read it several times, practice manually, you must practice manually, it's that simple.
A friend told me after many years in the software industry: Looking back now, what the training teacher said was really bad, but you have to admit that it is precisely because of the training that I entered this industry.
If there are any skills for beginners, the only thing is to choose a book of good quality and not that difficult. If you are just getting started, you recommend him to read "Java Programming Thoughts" or "Deep JVM", the result is likely to be halfway.
The core of novice reading: read a few times and you must practice.
Experienced
For those with certain experience, the purpose of reading is more clear and specific. Whether you are reading a book about architecture, principles, source code, or actual combat, you will know what to get from this book at the very beginning. That is to read with problems to be solved.
Unlike novices, in addition to having more basic knowledge to pave the way, they are more purposeful and often resort to books after encountering problems in practice.
Technical books are very similar to TV manuals. When you already know how to turn on, turn off and switch channels, pick up the manuals either to discover some interesting functions or to know how to "connect peripherals." In this process, basically the manual is held in one hand and the remote control in the other.
If you are reading the manual, there is no need to read it word by word from beginning to end, just turn to the corresponding chapter, read the corresponding content, read and practice.
The basic way of reading at this time is to read a book with a curious mentality or a problem to be solved, and then practice and verify it in the project.
When I first entered the workplace, a friend said: I basically read a technical book a week. I was surprised at that time, how could it be so fast? These are technical books, each with more than 500 pages. With the increase of experience, I gradually understand why, and I am using it.
Personally, the most familiar database is Mysql, but due to work requirements, I need to learn a new database-PostgreSQL. Collecting information from the Internet is time-consuming and the content is fragmented and unsystematic. What to do, buy a book and read it.
I took time to read a book last week. I read nearly 200 pages in two hours, almost half of it. Why is it so fast? Let's review the content and steps of reading:
(1) Understand the basic structure of the database and know how it is different from the most familiar database implementation structure. This content is a must-read.
(2) Installation, startup, and connection of multiple database environments. The book talks about three operating systems, just look at the one you use. It has been practiced before.
(3) The basic operation of the database: add, delete, modify and check, follow the basic specifications, 80% of the content is the same, there is no need to spend too much time. For different parts, type the corresponding commands that are commonly used and have a practical experience.
(4) With different storage structures, PostgreSQL supports richer storage formats, such as JSON, arrays, and geometric figures. Although it is a new feature, it is not commonly used, just know that there is, and experience the structure environment of the part of interest.
(5) Transaction and transaction isolation level, authority management, etc. These are all basic knowledge, and different database implementation mechanisms are different.
(6) The new version of PostgreSQL supports inheritance and partitioning of the table structure. This is more interesting. Read carefully to see the implementation principles, usage scenarios and precautions, and take notes.
(7) Operation and maintenance operations such as backup, import, export, etc., do not need to be memorized, just check them when they are used.
(8) The database is already in use in the project, which means that it is already in practice. this point is very important.
After the above steps, you probably understand why you can read so fast: first, you have a certain basic experience, you can skip it directly; second, there is no need to memorize all kinds of complicated parameters and functions, and uncommon content. Memorize it hard, just know its existence; third, stop to read, practice, and take notes carefully on the content of interest.
If you are more careful, you can still find that my purpose in reading this book is not to memorize everything. Just take a look, what is the difference between it and the most familiar database, experience it, write it down, and then practice it in the project.
The goal is as simple as that, and through quick reading, the goal was reached. When you finish reading it, this book becomes the operating manual for your TV. When you need it, look it up and practice it.
Of course, there is an exception. If you are a professional DBA and the goal is to be proficient in every detail, then you may need to chew up, but it must also be accompanied by practice.
If you are memorizing every book by rote, then your method may be really wrong.
Find what you need, read, practice, read again, practice again...
in conclusion
In fact, the reading rules for technical books are very simple: read + hands-on practice, read again, and practice again.
However, according to different experiences and goals, different strategies can be distinguished: go straight to the topic, and then consult or read the whole text for practice.
But no matter what, practice is essential, otherwise you will find that you can't remember at all, and you won't use what you remember. Practice slows down the speed, but improves the effect, essentially improving efficiency.
Original link: " How to efficiently read technical books? 》
