关于读书,关于改变
有的朋友回复说“哈哈幸好没有读这本书”,有的朋友说“光看这封面就知道里面内容不怎么样”。
我忍不住的好为人师一下。首先读书是个很个人的事情,如果评论这本书的人没有说出“为什么要吐槽”这本书的理由的话,我们不要轻易的就同意。无论是说这本书好还是不好,都要拿出证据来说理,否则的话只是“个人观点”。
其次,关于读书,Francis Bacon早在300多年前在Of Studies中说:
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them bothers; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things.
王佐良把这段文字译为:
书有可浅尝者,有可吞食者,少数则须咀嚼消化。换言之,有只须读其部分者,有只须大体涉猎者,少数则须全读,读时须全神贯注,孜孜不倦。书亦可请人代读,取其所作摘要,但只限题材较次或价值不高者,否则书经提炼犹如水经蒸馏、淡而无味矣。
在我们读一本书之前我们不知道这本书是“好”还是“不好” — 跟我们去相亲一样,你或许听了许多见面对象的介绍,但是到底怎么样还得亲自体验。我觉得我们不仅要多读“好书”,也要读“烂书” — 起码要知道烂在哪里,要在字里行间中和作者辩论,否则的话,或者一不小心就被忽悠了,或者一不小心就错过了让我们可以成长的东西。
想知道一道菜好不好吃,合不合口味的最好的方式就是去尝一尝 — One man's meat is another's poison。
刚刚读完Malcolm Gladwell的The Tipping Point,我觉得这本书写的“太啰嗦” – 起初它只是刊登在纽约客上的一篇文章,然后把它扩写成了一本书,难免如此。书的内容也“不够科学”–运用大段的科学证据来 reason backwards他的理论。正如作者所说:
To make sense of social epidemics, we must first understand that human communication has its own set of very unusual and counterintuitive rules.
不过整体上来看还是挺有意思的,有很多小故事和理论。例如Sesame Street是如何取得成功的; 例如提到的Dunbar's number:
1月23日的《经济学人》有篇文章和Dunbar number有关,http://t.cn/RbmgSfB
在最后一章Conclusion中,有这样几段话分享给你:
We think people are different, but not that different…The world – much as we want it to – does not accord with our intuition. Those who are successful at creating social epidemics do not just do what they think is right. They deliberately test their intuitions.
之前和大家分享了纽约时报的文章Do What You Love, 作者的观点是很多时候我们需要做的甚至是我们讨厌的事情。我们常说Follow your heart说的就是“deliberately test our intuitions”吧, “试错”是学习必须的一个过程。
What must underlie successful epidemics, in the end, is a bedrock belief that change is possible, that people can radically transform their behavior or beliefs in the face of the right kind of impetus.
We are actually powerfully influenced by our surroundings, our immediate context, and the personalities of those around us.
电影Detachment中有一段非常让我感动,里面提到了 “Ubiquitous Assimilation” "marketing holocaust,说的就是在这个广告无处不在的社会,我们不知不觉的就被忽悠了。
我们一定要学会保护自己,不要随随便便的就让别人牵着走,活在别人的控制中。当然,我们有很多的无奈委屈,但是我相信我们“比想象中的更自由”。
注意身边的“坏”人,就在不知不觉之间,就被改变。注意身边的“好”人,和他们一样好好学习,并非天天向上。
这本书的最后说:
Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can be tipped.
要相信“改变”,无论我们学英文还是去健身,最终的目的无非是让自己成为一个更优秀的人。The Power of Habit中一开始就提到一个案例: 一个各方面都很糟糕的女孩通过戒烟这一个小改变而改变了自己的生活。有时候或许只是打开方式不对,坚持寻找那个让自己解放的钥匙,秘密就在空气中。
如同The Old Man and the Sea中老人说:
A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
晚安:)