41 Learning Methods That Benefit a Lifetime

Chapter 39 Five-step reading method from thick to thin

This section combines the reading experience of the predecessors, focusing on a set of reading procedures to achieve "from thick to thin", called the five-step reading method from thick to thin.

Step [-]: Determine what to read.

The ancients said "read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles". "Although there are many volumes, there are many eyes."Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, said in a poem: "If you break through ten thousand volumes in reading, you can write like a god".How much is ten thousand volumes of books?A copy of "The Analects of Confucius" has only 1.37 words, and a copy of "Mencius" has only 3.54 words, which are not as many as a newspaper.This is an ancient book, and reading the first volume is equivalent to reading a few thousand newspapers with no more than 1 million words. Although the volume is not small, it can be done.

With the development of human beings today, the situation is different.Books can be described as boundless, even if it is a book of a certain subject, it is difficult to finish reading in a lifetime.The most important thing for us when we face Zhihai Shulin is to choose, recite what is suitable for memorization, intensive reading for intensive reading, rough reading for rough reading, and do not read for unsuitable reading.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong wrote a book called "Questions and Answers on Bibliography", which was specially written for his students. One of the purposes was to tell his students to choose good books to read and not to read bad ones, that is, to read books that require reading. There are options.

The so-called choice means first looking at the table of contents or content summary of the book you are reading, and then determining which content should be read and which content should not be read according to the needs.If there is nothing in the whole book that should be read, then don't read this book.If it is a textbook and its reference books, it is mainly guided by the teacher; if it is an extracurricular reading, it is mainly famous and famous articles recommended by experts.

Reading can be a pastime, can increase talent, and can be inspirational. For primary and middle school students, it is most worth advocating to choose extracurricular books for the purpose of inspiration.

Some students, after becoming interested in reading, read a book like a cow seeing green grass, regardless of good or bad, they gorge on it.This approach is highly undesirable.There are so many books in the world, so complicated, and if you study hard indiscriminately for a lifetime, you will not be able to read anything well!Not only that, some books have toxic side effects on teenagers, if they read indiscriminately, they are likely to be lured away from the right track.If it is selected according to actual needs, a broad sense of "from thick to thin" will be realized.

Step [-]: Clarify the focus.

For all the key content learned and all the knowledge that should be stored in, you can use a pen to mark the bottom with wavy lines or make other marks, and you can also write your experience and add eyebrow comments.Read these contents in the next review, and you don't need to read other contents.Mark the key sentences in the key content and the key words in the key sentences, and filter out those redundant words and words.This is what Einstein said, "Find out in the book you read what can lead you to the depths, and throw away everything else that overburdens the mind and lures you away from the main point."For the key content you have confirmed, you can take notes while reading, and then go back and organize the notes to make them networked or organized. Finally, you should pay close attention to memory for the internal storage, and classify the external storage in time be stored outside.

Step [-]: Repeatedly understand, comprehend, and memorize the content that should be stored.

At the beginning of learning, if there are one or two things that you don’t understand or can’t remember, it doesn’t matter. Keep reading, and after the content is connected, you will naturally understand it.For science knowledge such as mathematics, physics and chemistry, it is necessary to do more exercises on the basis of mastering the basic concepts, basic theories, and basic methods to deepen understanding, memory, and improve resilience.

Step Four: Summarize.

After finishing each chapter and even the whole book, summarize and generalize the content that should be mastered.The sorted out content can be written on a few sheets of paper, or transcribed on a summary card, or marked with eyebrows, so as to realize the leap of "a thick book becomes a thin book, and a thin book becomes a sheet of paper".At the same time, on this basis, ask some questions about all the content you should know and meet, and answer them one by one by yourself.It is convenient and time-saving for reviewing in the future.For the knowledge scattered in books that should be stored outside, transcribe cards and summarize them for archiving.

Step [-]: Review every once in a while.

This refers specifically to internal knowledge.The purpose of reviewing is to blow off the dust covering the memory, and it should be done in good time, otherwise the dust will be too thick and it will take time to remove it.For liberal arts knowledge, you can mainly answer the questions raised in the fourth step during review; for science knowledge, you can mainly solve application problems.

This "from thick to thin" five-step reading method is applicable to middle school students, college students and self-learners.In today's "explosion of knowledge" and "flooding of books and periodicals", the first step of the five-step reading method is the most important.

(Qian Zhongshu reading) The famous writer Mr. Qian Zhongshu also used this learning method.Qian Zhongshu has been reading extensively since he started his studies.When he was in middle school, he read the original English editions of "Tian Yan Lun", and also read "Ancient Chinese Ci Lei Zhuan", "Parallel Style Wen Chao", "Eighteen Schools of Poetry", etc. As for his favorite novel magazines, he even I can't put it down and read it tirelessly.After being admitted to Tsinghua University, his first wish was to "sweep the Tsinghua Library".He spends all day in the library reading old and new Chinese and Western books.In his own book, he draws good sentences with a black and thick pencil, and adds his comments next to the book.He read a wide range, even many professors are amazed.

Qian Zhongshu's erudition is attributed to his exposition.It is no exaggeration to describe the notes he wrote in reading books. It is no exaggeration. When he wrote the academic masterpiece "Guan Zhui Bian", he used several sacks of materials.

Qian Zhongshu advocated the doctorate first and then the appointment, and the doctorate back to the appointment.That is to dabble extensively first, read a lot of books, and then refine and absorb on this basis to form your own knowledge structure.This scientific learning method not only made him a generation of academic masters, but also pointed out the correct path to success for post-scholars.

The so-called "hypothetical questioning method" refers to the use of hypothetical ways to ask questions and lead to in-depth learning.Learning is not only about accepting new knowledge and new viewpoints, but also being good at questioning and expressing one's own opinions.In this way, the knowledge you have learned is really useful to you.

Major inventions and breakthroughs in some scientific fields, both in ancient and modern China and abroad, often start with hypothetical questions.Being good at using the method of hypothetical questioning to study and study can often get unexpected results.Mr. Tao Xingzhi, a famous educator, once had a brilliant exposition on this: "There are thousands of inventions, the starting point is a question. Animals are not as good as humans, and they don't know how to ask. A wise man asks cleverly, and a fool asks stupidly. Manpower conquers nature. Work, only ask about everything."This shows the importance of "asking".

Speaking of asking questions, the first thing we think of is the teacher's question in class.Indeed, questioning is an important means for teachers to understand students, teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and is targeted; it is also a basic method for teachers to focus students' attention, stimulate students' interest, promote students' positive thinking, guide students to grasp the learning content, and improve students' ability of analysis, appreciation, and expression.However, everything in the world has its two sides.Since the teacher can "ask" us, then we should also be able to "ask" the teacher and "ask" ourselves.This is the starting point of introducing the "hypothetical questioning method" to everyone.

(End of this chapter)