Chapter 7 Chapter 5 How to Be a Self-Demand Reader

It is much easier to fall asleep than to stay awake while reading.Climb into bed, find a comfortable position, dim the lighting just enough to tire your eyes a bit, and choose a book that is either very difficult or extremely boring—it can be any subject, a readable or non-readable book Books - After a few minutes of this, you'll be falling asleep. Unfortunately, staying sane doesn't work in the opposite direction.Even if you're sitting in a comfortable chair, or even lying in bed, it's still possible to stay awake.We already know that many people have hurt their eyes because they read late at night with a dim light.What is the power that can keep those who read at night by candlelight still awake?At least one thing is certain-whether they are actually reading the book in their hands makes the difference, and it is a huge difference.

Whether you want to stay awake while reading, or fall asleep, depends mainly on what your reading goals are.If your goal in reading is gain—whether spiritual or spiritual growth—you have to stay awake.It also means being as active as possible while reading, while also putting in the effort—and that effort will pay off. A good book, fiction or non-fiction, deserves this kind of careful reading.To use a good book as a sedative is an utter waste.Whether you fall asleep or spend hours trying to get something out of a book—mainly trying to understand it—and end up thinking about it all the time, you will never achieve your original goal.

Sadly though, many people, despite being able to distinguish between reading for gain and pleasure—on the one hand for increased comprehension and the other for entertainment or just a little bit of curiosity—still fall short of their reading goals .Even if they know how to read the book, they still fail.The reason is that they don't know how to be self-demanding readers, how to focus on what they're doing without getting nothing. ※ Active Reading Basics: Four Essential Questions a Reader Asks Active reading has been discussed several times in this book.We have said that active reading is better reading, and we have also emphasized that inspectional reading is always full of initiative.That is effort, not effortless reading.But we haven't briefly explained the core of active reading, which is: You ask questions as you read—questions that you yourself must try to answer as you read.

Is there a problem?No.As far as reading levels go beyond basic reading, the art of reading is asking the right questions in the right order.There are four main questions you must ask about a book. (1) Overall, what is the book really about?You must find a way to find out the theme of this book, how the author develops this theme in sequence, and how to gradually decompose the core theme into subordinate key issues. (2) What did the author say in detail, and how did he say it?You must find a way to identify the main ideas, statements, and arguments.These combine to form the particular message the writer wants to convey.

(3) Does the book make sense?Does it all make sense, or does it partially make sense?You can't answer this question unless you can answer the first two questions.Before you can judge whether the book makes sense, you must first understand what the whole book is about.However, once you get to know a book, if you read it carefully, you feel obligated to make your own judgment about it.It is not enough to know what the author thinks. (4) What does this book have to do with you?If this book gives you information, be sure to ask what the information means.Why would this author think it is important to know this?Do you really need to know?If the book not only informs, but inspires you, it is even more necessary to seek out other related, deeper meanings or suggestions for further enlightenment.

In other chapters of this book, we will return to these four questions for more in-depth discussions.In other words, these four questions are the basic rules of reading and the main topics to be discussed in the second part of this book.There is a very good reason why these four points appear here in question.At any level of reading that goes beyond basic reading, the core is that you try to ask questions (and then try to find answers to the best of your ability).This is a principle that must never be forgotten.This is also the reason why there is a world of difference between readers with self-demand and readers without self-demand.The latter ask no questions—certainly no answers.

The four questions mentioned above summarize the responsibility of a reader.This principle applies to any kind of reading material—a book, an article, even an advertisement.Inspectional reading seems to come up with more correct answers to the first two questions than to the latter two, but equally; will help.And unless you can answer the last two questions, even if you use analytical reading, it is not considered a complete meritorious deed—you must be able to grasp the whole or part of the truth and meaning of the book with your own judgment, and then you have really completed the reading.Especially the last question - what does this book have to do with you? — Possibly the single most important question in the subject reading.Of course, you have to answer the first three questions before you can answer the last question.

Just knowing these four questions is not enough.As you read, remember to ask these questions.Only by developing such a habit can one become a reader with self-requirements.In addition, you also need to know how to answer questions accurately and correctly.The ability thus trained is the art of reading. People doze off while reading a good book, not because they don't want to work hard, but because they don't know how to work hard.There are so many good books you can't wait to read. (It's not a good book if you don't miss it.) And unless you can actually get up and touch them and lift yourself up to the same level, the good books you miss will just tire you out .It's not the act of getting up that wears you out, it's your lack of effective self-improvement skills that create frustration in frustration, and that's why you're tired.To maintain active reading, you must not only have the will to do so, but also the skill—the art of self-improvement by overcoming what initially feels inadequate to you.

※ How to make a book truly your own You are a better reader if you have the habit of asking questions while you are reading than if you are not.But, as we have emphasized, simply asking questions is not enough.You also try to answer the questions.In theory, this process could be done in your head, but it's easier to do if you have a pen in hand.As you read, the pen becomes a signal to remind you. As the saying goes: "You have to read between the lines to gain more." The so-called rules of reading are just to explain this matter in a more formal way.Additionally, we encourage you to "write between the lines".If you don't do this, it will be difficult to reach the state of the most effective reading.

When you buy a book, you buy an asset, the same way you pay for clothes or furniture.But in the case of a book, the act of paying for it is only a prelude to actually owning the book.To truly own a book fully you have to make it a part of yourself, and the best way to make you a part of a book is the same thing as a book becoming a part of you and you becoming a part of it — just to write it down. Why is taking notes on books so essential to reading?One, it keeps you awake—not just not lethargic, but very wide awake.Second, reading, if active, is thinking, and thinking tends to be expressed in words—whether spoken or written.A man who says he knows what he is thinking, but cannot say, usually means that he does not really know what he is thinking.Third, writing down your thoughts will help you remember the author's thoughts.

Reading a book should feel like a conversation between you and the author.He probably knows more about the subject than you do, or you wouldn't need to deal with this book at all.But understanding is a two-way communication process. Students must ask questions to themselves and to the teacher.Once he understands what the teacher said, he must be able to argue with the teacher.Taking notes on the book is actually expressing the different or the same point of view between you and the author.This is the highest respect you can pay an author. There are various and colorful ways to take notes.Here are a few possible approaches: (1) Underline—underline the main points, or important and powerful sentences. (2) Add another line outside the column where the underline is drawn - to emphasize the part you have already drawn, or if a certain paragraph is very important but the underline is too long, add it outside the entire paragraph a mark. (3) Asterisks or other symbols in the margins—use sparingly and only to emphasize the dozen or so most important statements or passages in the book.You may want to fold a corner of each page where you have marked this way, or clip a bookmark so that whenever you pick up the book from the shelf and open the place you marked, you can recall your memory. (4) Numbering in the blanks—When an author's argument develops a series of important statements, sequential numbering can be done. (5) Write down other page numbers in the margins—emphasize that the author has made the same argument elsewhere in the book, or a related point, or a point that differs from the point here.Doing so brings together ideas scattered throughout the book.Many readers will use a notation like Cf to mean comparison or reference. (6) Circle key words or sentences—this is the same function as underlining. (7) Take notes in the margins of the pages - when reading a certain chapter, you may have some questions (or answers), write them down in the margins, this will help you recall your questions or answers.You can also simplify complex arguments in the margins of the page.Or jot down the order of development of all the major arguments throughout the book.The last page of the book can be used as a personal index page to write down the author's main points in order. For people who are used to taking notes, the blank pages at the front of the book are usually very important.Some people keep these few pages for their bibliographic stamp.But that merely expresses your financial ownership of the book.The blank pages at the front of the book are best used to record your thoughts.After you finish reading a book, write down your personal index on the last blank page, then turn back to the front blank page and try to write out the outline of the whole book, without writing page by page or point by point ( You have already done this on the blank pages at the back of the book), try to write out the overall structure of the whole book, list the basic outline and the order of the chapters before and after.This outline is a measure of whether you understand the entire book, which is not the same as a bibliographic seal, but it can show your intellectual ownership of the book. ※ Three ways to take notes You may have three different points of view when reading a book, and therefore three different ways of taking notes.Which way you will take notes depends entirely on the level of your reading. When you're reading a book using inspectional reading, you probably don't have much time to take notes.Inspectional reading, as we said before, takes forever a finite amount of time.Even so, when you read at this level, you will still ask some important questions, and it is best to write down the answers while they are fresh in your memory-it is not always possible to do so. In inspectional reading, the questions to be answered are: First, what kind of book is this?Second, what is the whole book about?Third, what overall structure does the author use to develop his point of view or state his understanding of the subject?You should take notes and write down the answers to these questions.Especially if you know that one day, perhaps days or months later, you will pick up the book again for analytical reading, and you should write down the questions and answers first.The best places to take these notes are the table of contents page, or the title page, which are the pages we didn't use in the note-taking methods we mentioned earlier. Note here that the main focus of these notes is the structure of the book, not the content—at least not the details.So we call such notes structural note-making. In the course of inspectional reading, especially long and difficult books, it is possible to grasp some of the author's thoughts on the subject.But usually you can't do that.And unless you really read the whole book again, you shouldn't jump to conclusions about the accuracy or truthfulness of the book's arguments.Later, when you do your analytical reading, you will have answers to questions about the book's accuracy and significance.At this level of reading, the notes you make are no longer about structure, but about concepts.These concepts are the author's point of view, and as you read deeper and wider, your own point of view will emerge as well. Structural note-making is quite different from conceptual note-making.And what kind of notes do you take when you are reading several books at the same time, doing thematic reading—reading many different books on the same topic?Again, such notes should also be conceptual.The page numbers you write down in the margins of the book are not just the page numbers of this book, but the page numbers of several other books as well. For a professional reader who has become proficient at reading several books on the same subject at the same time, there is a higher level of note-taking.That is notes for the context of a discussion—a discussion in which many authors have participated, and who may not have been aware of their own participation at all.We will discuss this in detail in Part Four, and we like to call such notes dialectical note making.Because this is abstracted from many books, not just one, it usually needs to be documented on a separate sheet.At this point, we will use the conceptual structure again—a sequence of all related statements and questions about a single topic.We will come back to such notes in Chapter 20. ※ Cultivate the habit of reading The so-called art or skill belongs only to the person who can form the habit and operate according to the rules.This is what sets artists or craftsmen in any field apart.To form a habit, there is no other way than constant exercise.This is what we usually say, the truth of learning how to do it from actually doing it.Before and after you develop the habit, the biggest difference lies in the difference in reading ability and speed.After practice, you will do the same thing much better than when you first started.This is what the saying goes, practice makes perfect.What you can't do well at the beginning will gradually become handy, as if it was born naturally.You seem to be born to do it, as naturally as you walk or eat.This is why habits are second nature. Knowing the rules of an art is not the same as forming a habit.When we speak of a skilled person, it is not that he knows how to do that thing, but that he has acquired the habit of doing it.Of course, knowing the rules clearly is the key to having skills.If you don't know what the rules are, it's impossible to follow them.And you can't get into the habit of an art, or any skill, if you can't play by the rules.Art, like anything else with rules, can be learned and operated.Just like developing habits for other things, you can develop habits as long as you practice according to the rules. By the way, not everyone knows that being an artist means practicing according to the rules.People point to a highly original painting or sculpture and say, "He doesn't play by the rules. His work is very original. It's something that has never been done before. There are no rules." People just don't see the rules the artist follows.Strictly speaking, there are no final, unbreakable rules for an artist or a sculptor.But preparing a canvas, mixing paint, applying paint, molding clay or welding steel, there are definitely rules to follow.A painter or sculptor must follow these rules, otherwise he will not be able to achieve what he wants to do.No matter how original his final work is, no matter how many conventionally known "rules" he has eliminated, he must have the skill to make such a finished product.That's what we're talking about here—art—or skill or craft. ※ Form a habit out of many rules Reading is like skiing, when done well, like an expert, skiing is as beautiful and harmonious an activity as reading is.But if a novice hits the road, both can be clumsy, slow and frustrating affairs. Learning to ski is one of the most embarrassing learning experiences an adult can have (which is why it's important to learn while you're young).After all, an adult is used to walking for a long time.He knows how to settle down, how to walk in a certain direction step by step.But he put the sled on his feet, as if he had to learn to walk again.He fell and slipped, and had trouble getting up when he fell.After finally standing up, the sled fell sideways again and fell down again.He looked—or felt—like a fool. Even a professional coach can't do anything for a novice just starting out.The graceful movement of the ski instructor is what he calls a simple movement, but to a new scholar, it is not only fantasy, but also almost insulting.How can you remember every move the coach says?Bend your knees, look at the hills below, keep your weight down, keep your back straight, and learn to lean forward.The demands seem endless—how can you remember so many things while still skiing? Of course, the point of skiing is not to think of all the movements separately, but to be coherent and turn smoothly and steadily.You just look down the mountain, no matter what you will bump into, and ignore other companions, enjoy the cool wind blowing on your cheeks, and the thrill of your body flowing down the mountain.In other words, you have to learn to forget about the separate steps in order to show the whole movement, and each single step has to be really good.But in order to unlearn these single movements, you must first learn each single movement separately.Only in this way can you connect all the movements and become an excellent skier. It's like reading, maybe you've been reading for a long time, and now it's a bit embarrassing to have to start all over again.But reading is like skiing, unless you have mastered each step before you can connect all the different steps into one complex but harmonious movement.You can't compress the different parts of it so that the different steps are immediately linked together.As you do this, each separate step requires your full attention.After you have practiced these separate steps separately, you will not only be able to let go of your attention and do each step well, but you will also be able to combine all the movements to show a smooth movement as a whole. This is the basics of learning a complex skill.We say this simply because we want you to know that learning to read is at least as complicated as learning to ski, type, or play tennis.If you can recall the past learning experience, you will be more able to bear a mentor who puts out a lot of reading rules. Once a person has learned a complex technique, he knows that to learn a new technique, the initial complexity is not to be feared.Knowing also that he need not worry about these individual actions, because only when he has mastered them can he complete the whole. The diversification of rules means the complexity of developing a habit, rather than the formation of many different habits.When a certain point is reached, each separate movement will naturally be compressed and connected into a complete movement.You've got into the habit of doing it when all the relevant movements come fairly naturally.Then you can think about how to master an expert move, skate a move you've never skated before, or read a book that you thought was difficult for you before.In the beginning, the learner only notices his own movements apart from those.When all the separated actions are no longer separated and gradually merged into one, the learner can turn his attention to the goal, and he has the ability to achieve the goal. We hope that what has been said in these pages has given you some encouragement.Learning to be a good reader is not easy.And not just reading, but analytical reading.That's a very complicated reading skill—much more complicated than skiing.That is more of a mental activity.A novice skier has to think about body movements before he can let go of those concerns and make natural movements.Relatively speaking, it is relatively easy to take into account the movements of the body.It was much more difficult to take into account the mental activity, especially when he was first doing analytical reading, because he was always thinking about his own thoughts.Most people are not used to reading like this.Even so, it can still be trained.And once you learn it, your reading skills will only get better and better.