41 Learning Methods That Benefit a Lifetime

Chapter 45 Strong ability depends on "whale swallowing" (1)
There are two aspects to reading and learning. In addition to learning knowledge, the more important thing is to cultivate ability.Knowledge is just material, and cultivating ability is more important than accumulating knowledge.

For a learner, if he wants to greatly improve his ability, his knowledge should be as broad as possible, and the field of knowledge he should be involved in should be as broad as possible.Just like a whale eats, take everything into its mouth and taste it.For example, a person who studies philosophy should not only read professional books on philosophy, but should read books on all three aspects of literature, history and philosophy.For example, you can draw up such a study plan: read Plato's works in the morning, and study Belinsky's works in the afternoon.Even if others think that there is no connection between the two, but this is their own freedom, and there is no need to let others see it that way, just study according to your own plan honestly.Some people must have doubts, since it is mainly philosophy, why do you need to read books on literature and history?The answer is simple.The disadvantage of philosophy is that it is "empty", that is, it is not easy to connect with practical problems in life, and there are many abstract concepts.However, philosophy also has its advantages, that is, it stands at a higher level and sees the side that is usually difficult to see; the weakness of history is "narrowness", that is, it often has deep and thorough knowledge on a certain point, but always thinks it is compatible with other aspects. I have nothing to do with myself, so I am not interested and don't care much.Its advantage is that it drills deeper; the disadvantage of Chinese is "shallow", that is, the learning lacks depth, but the advantage is that it is more complicated and has a wide range of interests.As soon as the pros and cons of each are pointed out, the answer becomes clear: only by studying extensively can one learn from others' strengths, achieve the effect of understanding by analogy, and truly improve one's ability.

All in all, one should not engage in narrow utilitarianism when studying and studying, but should consider improving the entire knowledge structure and overall cultural literacy.If you don't do this, your knowledge will be very narrow, and your ability to analyze, synthesize, choose, judge, etc. will inevitably be affected and restricted.

Zhuge Liang's view is that it is actually "whale swallowing"

Zhuge Liang in the Three Kingdoms period was the embodiment of wisdom in the hearts of Chinese people.But his family background is not prominent, and his family is not rich.Moreover, there are many descriptions of Zhuge Liang's intelligence and ability in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but it does not emphasize how talented he is.The most memorable is a passage introducing Zhuge Liang's background. "Kong Ming is close friends with Cui Zhouping of Boling, Shi Guangyuan of Yingchuan, Meng Gongwei of Runan and Xu Yuanzhi. These four people are pure and simple, but Kong Ming only sees the general situation. He hugged his knees and chanted, and pointed to the four people and said: "Grandpa When you become an official, you can go to the governor and the county guard." When people asked Kong Ming what his ambition was, Kong Ming just laughed and didn't answer. He often compares himself to Guan Zhong and Le Yi, and his talent is immeasurable.

This passage actually points out an excellent learning method.Zhuge Liang's four friends are also very smart, but why can they all only be governors and sheriffs (equivalent to today's provincial and municipal officials), but not prime ministers (that is, prime ministers)?And why can Zhuge Liang be able to conclude that he can be as famous as the ancient sages?The answer is in the citation.It turned out that the four friends usually study "for the sake of purity".This kind of reading method makes these friends very proficient in some aspects, and they are very proficient in written theory.It is precisely because of this that their knowledge is not broad enough and they do not pay much attention to social phenomena.Therefore, they lack the pioneering spirit and the ability to deal with practical problems.

However, Zhuge Liang's method of reading is to "see the outline", which is similar to the method of swallowing.This method means that he pays attention to the comprehensive mastery of knowledge and the development of knowledge fields.People's time is limited. After taking a rough look at book knowledge, you can save time to read other aspects of knowledge, so that you can be knowledgeable.And the knowledge is profound, the understanding of social phenomena will be deeper and more thorough, and the ability to deal with problems will be enhanced.Therefore, Zhuge Liang knew that his reading method was correct and his knowledge surpassed that of four friends, so he was confident that he could be a prime minister and be a good prime minister.This also shows that Zhuge Liang has superb predictive ability because he has mastered the correct learning method.

Qin Mu talks about the "whale swallowing" method
Writer Qin Mu is also an advocate of the method of swallowing whales.When he was studying, he insisted on the principle of learning from others' strong points. In the article "On the Road of Exploring Knowledge", he summed up his reading method as swallowing and chewing: "...you only need to know a general outline to read books and newspapers extensively", but To cover a wide range is like a big whale absorbing water; "...books and newspapers that require thorough understanding and memorization of details must be intensively read", just like an old cow eating grass, chewing slowly and savoring carefully.This is what came to be known as the "swallowing and chewing reading method".

Mr. Qin Mu believes that the "whale swallowing method" is the extensive reading method, which means that reading should be as extensive as a whale.Qin Mu said that the whale kept its mouth wide open when it swam, and small fish and shrimp flowed into its mouth along with the sea water. Sift and stay.With such a big mouthful, tons of small fish and shrimps will enter the stomach of the whale.People should also learn how to eat whales during extensive reading.For a person who wants to learn some knowledge, if he only has intensive reading without extensive reading, and if he cannot "swallow" tens of thousands of words every day, it will be difficult to enrich his knowledge.Just like a person, relying solely on exquisite snacks and vitamin pills to maintain health will definitely not be able to become strong.

"Whale swallow" requires screening to swallow

It is a common method adopted by many accomplished experts and scholars in ancient and modern China and abroad to read widely and enrich oneself like a whale devours.Although the whale eats with its mouth wide open and "will not refuse anyone", what finally enters the stomach is the delicacy filtered by the baleen plate.Similar to this, when we use the swallowing method to learn, we must be good at screening, discard the dross, take the essence, and selectively absorb and capture effective information that is helpful for us to expand our knowledge.At the same time, we should choose more basic information to prevent the aging of knowledge and pay attention to the update of knowledge.

We were born in a happy age, and there are many books to read, so we should cherish them, study extensively by devouring them, enrich our minds, and lay a good foundation for our future development.

Cattle eating method refers to a learning method like a cow "chewing the cud".When a cow eats grass, he swallows the grass into the ruminant stomach with big gulps, and then lies down when he is free, then pours the grass from the ruminant stomach back into his mouth, chews carefully, and then swallows the grass into the digestive stomach for digestion to fully absorb nutrients.Reading and studying also need to "ruminate and chew" and then digest and absorb.The content of some books cannot be fully understood or not understood deeply after reading it once, which requires "rumination and chewing"; the content of some books was thought to be understood at the time, but after a while it may be found that the understanding is wrong, and if there is no real understanding, "rumination" is also required. "Chewing"; although the content of some books is understood and memorized, but after "ruminating and chewing" it promotes its coherence and draws inferences from one instance to achieve the purpose of deepening understanding and truly mastering knowledge.

Qin Mu talks about the method of "cattle food"
Qin Mu, a famous contemporary writer, reads a large number of books, newspapers and magazines every day, accumulating extensive knowledge.As a result, his works are strung like jewels of knowledge, shining with unique brilliance.When Qin Mu talked about reading, he advocated eating like a cow, which is called the way of eating a cow, also called "chewing a cow".

He gave a very vivid explanation of "cow chewing": "After the old cow grazes during the day, until eleven or twelve o'clock in the night, it still moves its mouth and 'regurgitates' what it swallowed during the day, chewing it thoroughly. We should also repeat this many times for things that need to be read intensively, chewing very finely before swallowing. Some books are first swallowed in general, and then read carefully in sections. In this way, no matter how indigestible things are It’s easy to digest.” This is intensive reading in the “Cow Chewing” style.

Someone asked Qin Mu again, which books should be read intensively (“Niu Chew”), and which books should be read roughly?Qin Mu believes that there is no fixed rule, it can only vary from person to person.Generally speaking, valuable books, such as classics, textbooks from the school days, and books related to your main direction or major you are engaged in, should be read intensively.When he was young, he planned and systematically read through books such as "Course of Political Economy" and "Popular Philosophy".In addition, representative famous works and wonderful fragments from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, should also be intensively read.Do memorize it by heart, and be able to serve yourself when you need it.Extracurricular reading materials, such as novels, stories, etc., or social information, encyclopedia knowledge and leisure books in newspapers and periodicals can be read roughly.

When talking about the methods and requirements of intensive reading, Qin Mu specifically pointed out: read as slowly as possible, remember and review while reading, try to connect with the old knowledge you have learned to explore and acquire new knowledge, and read it repeatedly Come and read, or take notes, or recite its main points.It is necessary to read while looking down, but also to think upwards, so that you can read carefully and think carefully, and strive to truly digest and gain something, just like "chewing a cow" and "reversing".

As for rough reading, Qin Mu believes that the reading speed should be as fast as possible, instead of staring at reading word by word, you can "skip" and "scan" over.During "jumping" and "scanning", read the content that is useful to you several times, think for a while, or add symbols, or copy it down for future reference.He said: "This is called coarseness and fineness."

Chairman Mao's words "cattle food" are more than three or five times
Chairman Mao is a great statesman, writer, philosopher and thinker, which is inseparable from his perennial hard study.In the process of reading, he also often adopts this "cow chewing" reading method.

(End of this chapter)