41 Learning Methods That Benefit a Lifetime

Chapter 29 How to Choose Books
Obviously, the premise of exposition (or browsing) is to choose a certain number of suitable books.So, how to choose books?Generally speaking, the following factors can be considered:

First, choose good books according to your actual needs.

Books are used to help you study, so the selected books must be "professional counterparts".When making a choice, if you are not sure, it is best to consult famous experts or experienced people, or you can compare and extract the essence through your own browsing.

Second, when choosing books, we should pay attention to the combination of "broadness" and "deepness".

The so-called "broadness" refers to not only reading theoretical books related to the content of the study, but also reading literary works; not only reading professional books, but also reading books outside the major.It is no exaggeration to say that if the reading is not extensive, learning is often unsustainable, and I feel powerless.The so-called "deep" refers to choosing the most useful one on the basis of "broadness", studying in depth, and striving to be proficient.For example, when reading literary works, one must not only extensively read Chinese and foreign masterpieces of various genres, but also intensively read and study a certain category or part of them, strive to make discoveries, and put forward their own new viewpoints and insights.What needs to be explained is that breadth and depth should complement each other, and the two should be organically combined.If it is only extensive but not profound, it will inevitably be heterogeneous and superficial.To use a common saying to describe it is "knowledge in every door, plague in everything".Conversely, it is not advisable to blindly pursue profundity without a broad foundation.

(End of this chapter)