Books can't be finished, and it's useless to read them. Many books are not worth reading. Reading more than one worthless book will lose the time and energy to read a valuable book; Therefore, we must choose carefully. Naturally, you won't choose it yourself. You must teach it to critics and specialized scholars. I can't tell you the books you have to read, I can tell you the books you don't have to read. When I say books that don't need to be read, I mean books that aren't worth reading a second time. When you walk into a library, although you see thousands of paper books, I'm afraid it's still hard to call them ten books. You should only read these ten-and-hundred-volume books. In these books, you can not only get more accurate knowledge, but also absorb the spirit and methods of scholars. These books can shake your mind and stimulate your thinking. Other books, such as literature outline, science outline, book reviews in magazines and newspapers, are really not available to you. It is better to read a national style or 19 ancient poems than to read thousands of poems. Instead of reading thousands of books on Greek philosophy, we should read Plato's Republic.

You may ask me, what books should we middle school students read? This question is difficult to answer. You probably remember that Beijing Daily Supplement asked for "ten books that teenagers must read". As a result, some people quoted ten kinds of geometric algebra, while others quoted ten kinds of historical records and Han books. Originally, the original intention of this collection was to ask one person's standard to become everyone's standard. It seems that I only like noodles, but you can't eat rice. This is a completely wrong view. Everyone has different talents, interests, environments and occupations. How can you decide ten books like a panacea to make countless young people in the world have the same interest and produce the same effect? I went to investigate several British public libraries. The most popular books in their youth reading department can be divided into four categories: (1) adventure novels and travel notes, (2) myths and fables, (3) biological stories, (4) biographies of celebrities and patriotic novels. Representative works include jules verne's Around the World in Eighty Days and Two Wan Li under the Sea, Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Dumas' The Three Musketeers, Hawthorne's Strange Books and Tanglewood Tales. Kingsley's Hero, Fabres's Tale Book of Birds and Kid, Andersen's Fairy Tale, Suoxi's Nelson's Life, and Fang Long's Human Story. Although these books are very popular abroad, they are not suitable for young people in China. Most students in China are relatively young and mature, so they are willing to talk about some theories from middle school. They-including you and me-are not only happy to talk about literature, but also happy to study social problems and even philosophical problems. This is a natural tendency, so we can't ignore it. My personal opinion might as well be discussed with you. Education after the age of fifteen or sixteen focuses on developing comprehension, while education before the age of fifteen or sixteen focuses on developing imagination. Therefore, junior high school students should read more fictional words, and senior high school students should read words containing theories.

So far, I haven't answered the question of what kind of books I should read. To tell the truth, I have no ability to answer. I haven't read many "young people must read" books myself, and I have been reading some books in my prime. For example, China's books, I am most pleased with Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Shi Shuo Xin Yu, Tao Yuanming's Collection, Li Taibai's Collection, Huajian Collection and Selected Poems of Zhang Huiyan. Among foreign books, I like the poems of Hitchcock (Keats), Shelley, Coleridge and Bai Langning best, the seven tragedies of Sophie Crixus (Sophocles), Shakespeare's Hamlet, King Lear and otero, Goethe's Faust and Ibsen's plays best. If I had been asked by Beijing Daily Supplement, I might have put this antique foreign goods on the table and compiled "Ten Books Young People Must Read". But I know it's ridiculous. So I dare not answer the question of what books you should read now. You should consult with the experts you know and ask them to specify three or two books for young people to read within their own study scope. If you let a person do everything for you, for example, he is a liberal arts student, he may know that young people must study, which should include social problems, scientific knowledge and so on. But he is not sure about it. We'll just make up one or two things he knows, and you're like asking for directions. At the same time, you should know that reading is like exploring, and you can't rely entirely on the guidance of others. You have to spend some time looking for it yourself. I've never heard of anyone who became a scholar by reading "Ten Must-read Books for Young People" or "One Hundred Famous Books in the World". Others can only introduce, choose to see yourself.

I can't say much about reading methods. I just need to mention two points briefly here: First, all books worth reading must be read at least twice. The first quick reading focuses on awakening the theme and characteristics of the whole article. Read slowly for the second time and critically measure the content of the book. Second, after reading a book, you must write down a wonderful outline and your own opinions. Taking notes can help you remember and force you to be careful. Everyone has different natural habits, which method you use is more effective, and which method I use is more effective, so we can't generalize. You will find your own way eventually, and others can never give you a way to cook according to law.

I wrote a short article about reading more than ten years ago. This question is really endless, and my opinion has changed a little over the years. Now I'll talk about this problem again and make a little supplement to what I said last time when I talked about learning.

Learning is not just reading, reading is an important way of learning. Because learning is not only a personal matter, but also a matter for all mankind. Every question of science at this stage is the accumulated achievement of all human efforts, and this achievement has not been submerged, but has been handed down through books. Books are the treasure house of human spiritual heritage in the past, and they can also be said to be milestones in the track of human culture and academic progress. We must make progress in cultural studies at this stage on the basis of the past achievements of mankind. If we obliterate the past achievements of mankind, we may have to move the starting point back to hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Even if we can move forward, we will still go backwards. Reading is to settle the general ledger of human achievements in the past, relive thousands of years of human thoughts and experiences in just a few decades, and concentrate the hard-won knowledge and lessons of millions of people in the past on the readers. With this preparation, one can always travel long distances in learning and see a new world.

The more history advances, the richer the spiritual heritage of mankind, and the more books there are, the more difficult it is to read. Please pay attention to this passage. It was not easy for the ancients to write books, and Confucius even "narrated without writing". Nowadays, especially after the emergence of the Internet, there are too many words, but too few can stand the test of time. I hope Mr. Zhu's viewpoint of "not reading enough" can remind you that it is not a good thing to master too much junk information. Books are valuable, but they are also a burden, which can be transformed into research knowledge. It has at least two disadvantages. First, how easy it is for books to make readers not specialize. Because of the scarcity of books, the ancient scholars in China could only be cured after years of poverty. Although they don't read much, reading one book and chewing thoroughly become a spiritual motivation that will last for life. Books are easy to get now, and a young scholar can boast that he has read thousands of books. Although he has read many books, he seldom pays attention to them. For example, the more indigestible things accumulate, the easier it is to cause gastrointestinal diseases. Many superficial and arrogant habits are formed by eating and eating. Secondly, how easily books make readers lose their way. Books of any kind of knowledge can now fill a library, but there are often only dozens or even a few basic books that are really absolutely necessary to read. Many beginners are insatiable and idle, wasting their time and energy on unimportant books, which will inevitably delay the basic books; For example, although philosophers have read countless kinds of philosophical history and introduction, they have not read Plato's dialogues, and economists have read countless kinds of textbooks, but they have not read Adam Smith's The Original Rich. Learning is like fighting a war. You must attack and occupy the fortress. There are too many targets, and Jane Rui's position is buried. A punch in the east and a kick in the west became a "war of attrition."

There is not much reading, and the most important thing is to choose carefully and read thoroughly. Instead of reading ten unimportant books, it is better to read a book that is really worth reading with the time and energy of reading ten books; It is better to read all ten books than to read one book intensively for ten times. "A good book is never tired of reading, and a child knows himself after reading it carefully." These two poems are worth mentioning as the motto of every reader. Reading is for your own use. Reading more is not an honor, and reading less is not a shame. If you don't read it thoroughly, you will definitely develop the habit of deliberation, swim well, and even change your temperament; Reading more books without asking for much knowledge is like riding ten miles of foreign exchange. Although it is full of treasures, it just makes people feel confused and return empty-handed. Many people in the world read books just for window dressing. For example, upstarts show off their furniture, and the more they have, the more expensive they are. This is academic self-deception and low taste in life. The books you read should be divided into two categories, one is to acquire the necessary common sense of citizens in today's world, and the other is to do specialized knowledge. In order to gain common sense, middle school and junior college courses are enough if you study hard at present. The so-called serious study and familiar reading of handouts are useless. You should choose three or five important books for each subject and play them carefully. There are only a dozen general courses, and there are three or five books for each elective reading, and the total reading volume is only about 50. This is not an excessive request. The average reader has read more than this number of books, and they can't benefit from it, because they have no choice but to skim it when reading.

Common sense is not only necessary for citizens in today's world, but also for specialized scholars. (You don't need to read much, but the scope should be wide, because no reason is isolated-Shisanlang's note) Modern science has a close division of labor, and people who require a science are even more complacent, using specialization as an excuse and not asking other related knowledge. This may be necessary for the study of division of labor, but it is a sacrifice for further research. The universe is an organism, in which events are closely related to each other, and one leads to the other, so all kinds of knowledge about events can be separated on the surface, but they can't be cut off in practice. There is absolutely no isolated learning in the world. Political science, for example, inevitably involves history, economy, law, philosophy, psychology and even diplomacy and military affairs. If a person is not interested in these related knowledge, he must specialize in political science from the beginning, and the further he goes, the more difficult it becomes. For example, if a mouse gets into a corner, the narrower he gets, the less he can find a way out. The same is true of other studies. If you can't pass, you can't specialize. If you can't learn, you can't make an appointment. Learn first and then keep your promise, which is the only procedure to cure any learning. We only look at the academic history. Anyone who has made great achievements in a certain scientific issue must have a deep and extensive foundation in many other scientific issues. At present, young students in China like to talk about majors so much that many professional scholars have no common sense about very basic subjects. This trend may be caused by gentlemen doing doctoral thesis in foreign universities. It affects the curriculum of our university, and many unreasonable subjects are not necessarily available in foreign university research institutes. It's like forcing a sucking child to chew a bone. Isn't it a mistake?

Some people study because of their own interests. Reading should be planned and step by step, but it involves everyone's attitude towards life and work. Mr. Wu Liu, the incarnation of Tao Yuanming, doesn't want to know too much, and he enjoys reading. Today, when he comes across an interesting book, he puts aside what he intends to do and reads it wholeheartedly. I will do the same when I meet another interesting book tomorrow, although the two books are completely unrelated in nature. You can study astronomy from time to time, bees from time to time and Shakespeare from time to time. Ignore all books that others think are important but they are not interested. This kind of reading is like guerrilla warfare, and it is like bees gathering honey. Its advantage is to make reading a pleasure, deepen the works on a whim, and cultivate an extraordinary idea and mind over time. Its disadvantages are that it is full of homeless readers, lacking the "academic" systematic training necessary for special research, leading to abnormal development, paying too much attention to one aspect of knowledge and knowing nothing about the other. Some of my friends specialize in reading little-known books. Although he has made achievements in literature, he is not a special scholar. If a person has the time and energy to allow him to live a hedonistic life, and does not regard reading as a job but just a pastime, this kind of honey reading method can be adopted. But if a person has the desire to realize a kind of learning, he can't help but have a predetermined plan and system. For him, reading is not only the pursuit of interest, but also a kind of training and preparation. Some interesting books should be sacrificed, and some books that are dry at first glance should be chewed hard. After a long time, he can naturally chew the taste.

Reading must have a center to maintain interest, or themes, or questions. When taking the subject as the center, it is necessary to select the key books of the subject and read them from beginning to end, so as to have a general understanding of the subject and prepare for further in-depth research. Reading literary works with the author as the center and reading historical works with the times as the center also belong to this category. When we pay attention to the problem, we should first have a problem to study in our mind, and then read books on this problem, with the intention of collecting materials and opinions of various scholars on this issue in order to weigh and draw conclusions. You still have to read all the important books, and you can read a chapter here and a section there for the rest. If you get the materials you want to collect, you can miss. This method is commonly used by researchers and is not suitable for beginners. But beginners can still take a slightly problem-centered approach when focusing on subjects. Read a book several times and pay attention to only one aspect at a time. Su Dongpo and Wang once talked about this method:

"Teenagers are scholars, and every book should be read several times. When there are all kinds of department stores in the crowd, people can't take all their energy at the same time, but they can get what they want. Therefore, I hope that scholars will make a request every time, such as seeking the role of sages in the ups and downs of ancient and modern times, only making this request, not giving birth to Yu Nian; Don't do a deed, cultural relics or anything like that, that's all. He imitated this. If it succeeds, it will be attacked from all directions, which is different from those who admire dabbling. "

Zhu Xi tried to persuade his master to adopt this method. It is a key to intensive reading and can form the habit of careful analysis. Take reading novels as an example. The first time, only the story structure is sought, the second time, the description of characters is paid attention to, and the third time, only the interpenetration of characters and stories is sought, so that dialogue, rhetoric, social background, attitude towards life and so on can be studied one after another.

Reading should have a center, with which it is easy to be organized. For example, if you look at the history books, suppose that the focus is on the relationship between education and politics. All the historical facts about this issue in the whole book are linked by this center and form a system of their own. After reading other books, such as classics, I often encounter facts and theories about the relationship between politics and religion, and they naturally return to the system formed when I read history books. Multiple system centers can exist in a person's mind at the same time. For example, a dictionary has many "radicals". Every time a new knowledge is acquired, it will be integrated into a system with similar properties according to the principle of birds of a feather flock together, just like pasting new words into a dictionary. The words next to people belong to people's department, and the words next to water belong to water's department. A little knowledge is not only easy to forget, but also useless. Every time new knowledge is acquired, it must be connected with old knowledge, that is, it must be gathered into a system around a center to take root and blossom.

Memory is limited. In fact, it is often impossible to store all the branches and leaves of the knowledge system formed by the books you have read in your brain. If you can't save it, read it once and forget it, then reading is not reading. We must open a storage room outside the brain and move all the inexhaustible things stored in the brain there. This kind of storage room used to be notes, but now it is cards. Taking notes and making cards, just like botanists collecting specimens, must be classified and catalogued. Once one is collected, it will be classified into a certain category. After a long time, although there are many things collected, each has its own class and order. This is a very scientific method, which can not only save brain power and store useful materials for future needs, but also enhance the systematization and systematization of thinking. Those who are ready to do research work should work hard as early as possible to take notes and make cards.

This is the full text of reading. If I didn't find anything about "bitterness" some time ago, I would put it all on.