We all know the importance of reading, but reading is not an easy task. Many times we would tease ourselves and say that buying books is like falling down, and reading is like spinning. I think it can be added that opening a book is like losing memory. I don’t know if you have ever had such an experience. When you read a book, you can’t get your eyes on it. Many times, you have no impression of what the book says after reading it, and you don’t gain anything. Reading, like writing, is a technical thing. However, we all know that mastering solid writing skills is the basis for writing good articles, but it is difficult to intuitively realize that to achieve good reading and gain benefits from reading, certain methods are also required. It is normal to read the same book to different people and some people will read it better than others. why? I think the first is that this person's reading is more active, and the second is that he uses more skills in reading consciously or unconsciously.
So how can you read a book well? What skills do we need to master? Today I would like to recommend to you a good book that has had a profound impact on my reading journey - "How to Read a Book". Written by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, the book first appeared in 1940 and was republished in 1972, and has been a long-seller since then. Good book to test. The slogan of this book reads: "Those who don't know how to read, those who have just explored reading, can avoid wrongdoing by reading this book. Understand.” This book does exactly that.
The core of the whole book is "active reading", and other contents are developed around this core. The author wrote at the very beginning of the book: "This is a book written for people who read, especially those who want to read." Your "want" actually means that you "actively". A good reader is full of initiative, that requires effort, not effortless reading. Of course, the more active you are in reading, the better the effect, the stronger your ability to explore in the book, and the more you gain. So how do you achieve "active reading"? The author gives the answer in the book: The core of active reading is: you have to ask questions while reading, and at the same time, you must try to answer these questions yourself during the reading process. In active reading, the four basic questions a reader asks are:
1. What is this book really about? That is the theme of this book, and how the author develops this theme in sequence, and how to gradually decompose the core theme into subordinate key issues. In fact, for a good book, the author will often help you sort out the main points of his book in the title, table of contents, preface, etc. For example, the author of the book "How to Read a Book" we are talking about clearly wrote that it was written for practicing reading skills.
2. What did the author say specifically, and how did he say it? In addition to the topic, you'll want to find ways to identify the author's main ideas, statements, and arguments that make up the author's particular message. Books will convey the author's point of view, and the author will usually use more than one or a series of arguments and cases to explain why he has the current point of view, and at the same time try to add various arguments for or against to assist the exposition. There will be more relevant content, and a good way to verify whether you have grasped the core is to see if you can express the author's views and ideas in your own words.
3. Does the book make sense? Does it all make sense, or does it partially make sense? The premise of answering this question is that you have already found the answer to the first and second questions. Before you can judge whether the book makes sense, you must first understand what the whole book is about. However, it is not enough to just know the author's thoughts. No two people in the world have completely the same thoughts. We need to make our own judgments on a book based on understanding it. Active readers don't stop and critique a book because they already know what it's saying before they've really done it. However, if you disagree with the author's point of view and want to refute it, such as writing a book review, you must meet the following three conditions: first, be careful not to have too strong emotions when writing; The premise or hypothesis should be laid out first, without the premise, it is easy to have fearless debates; third, resolve the blind spots caused by factional disputes, and try to be as impartial as possible.
4. What does this book have to do with you? If this book gives you some information, be sure to ask what that information means. Why would this author think it is important to know this? Do you really need to know? If the book not only informs you, but inspires you, it is even more necessary to find other related, deeper meanings or suggestions, so that you can get more enlightenment.
In general, the above four questions are the basic rules for good reading. Of course, knowing these four questions is not enough, you also need to develop the habit of asking these questions during the reading process, and then try to find out the answers as much as possible. This is an indispensable principle. This is also the difference between active and self-demanding readers and readers without self-demanding. The reading effect of the two is very different. In fact, these rules apply to any kind of reading material. Even if the medium of reading has changed, from paper books, to e-books, to self-media, to paid courses, etc., but the essence has not changed, you can still use these skills on any form of reading.
In the book, the author also divides reading into four progressive levels. These four levels are not independent, and the lower levels will be included in the higher levels.
The first level is basic reading, which can be achieved with basic proficiency in literacy.
The second level is inspection reading, which emphasizes grasping the key points of a book within a certain period of time, and clarifying the category and basic structure of a book. This step can basically help us determine which books are good to read and which books are worthy of intensive reading , requires the use of the next level of analytical reading.
The third level is analytical reading, which emphasizes comprehensive and complete reading until the book becomes your own. Francis Bacon once said: "Some books can be tasted and stopped, some books are to be eaten alive, and only a few books are to be chewed and digested." Analytical reading is to chew and digest a book.
The fourth level is topic reading, which emphasizes reading many books related to a certain topic and forming systematic knowledge. This is generally used by scientific researchers. For programmers, it is important to understand and learn a When discussing technical concepts, reading methods and techniques at this level will also be used, such as reading multiple books and cross-reading. In addition to the above reading rules and methods, the author also shares many specific reading tips through cases in the book, which can be called a very good reference book.
It should be noted that skills are never the key. The real core is whether you can become a "self-demanding reader". Without any external help, you just want to read this book. Only by relying on inner strength, read actively, and through the exercise of active reading, grow in mind and ability through self-requirement and unremitting efforts. This is the real art of reading.