Recently, I participated in a reading activity, and there was an interesting debate about whether to read quickly or slowly. Many people may immediately feel that this discussion is redundant and it is difficult to choose. Read independently, fast and slow. But I think this is a problem that primary schools, middle schools and even universities will encounter. There are many puzzles, which are worth anchoring and determining.
"Fast" and "slow" are of course related to external conditions such as the type, difficulty, task requirements and restrictions of books, and also closely related to the knowledge and literacy of individual readers. Generally speaking, "slow reading" is conducive to chewing slowly, deep reading is difficult, and the unit nutrient extraction rate is high; And "fast reading" is like harvesting with a scythe. Scanning is very important, which broadens the horizon and broadens the knowledge. Therefore, the former is like "cow straw" and the latter is like "lion pounce", and the two seem irreconcilable. Scholars are often divided into two factions. Some people advocate "fast reading" and think that you can't know the truth without extensive reading. How can they tell the truth without reading thousands of books? On the other hand, people who advocate "slow reading" believe that if you don't study hard, think carefully, it is difficult to get started, slow down the page turning, or even meditate enough, it will lead to epiphany.
In fact, most scholars will experience these two kinds of reading experiences in their academic career. Looking back on my reading career along the way, I even couldn't let go of the romance of the Three Kingdoms when I was a teenager. When I was working in the countryside, because of the rainy day, I stopped working, hid under the covers and read Tolstoy's War and Peace in one breath. When reading foreign documents, I also had a record of one week 12000 pages. Of course, bittersweet "slow reading" experiences are not uncommon. For Hegel's "Little Logic", I can only read five lines in a cold classroom one night, read a page word for word, and read it three days later; When reading "Cultural Economics" in the British Library, grinding the soles of your feet for a week will only yield one chapter; I have read a lot of China's classic cultural works, especially the Book of Changes. Even if there are annotations, there are only a few pages in the end, and they are specious and confusing!
Therefore, regardless of major and experience, "fast reading" or "slow reading" is largely determined by the difficulty coefficient of books. Undoubtedly, academic monographs, theoretical masterpieces and classic masterpieces always make people think hard and even suffer; The reading speed of textbooks depends on whether they are selected for the exam, and the "reading speed" of reference books and practical books depends on how well they are written and how much they are used. Entertainment and leisure books can be browsed quickly, regardless of omissions. A phenomenon worthy of special attention is that many best-selling books and online books are called "finger books", which means you can just move your fingers. Screen-swiping on the Internet and page-turning in paper books are all hurried and natural, but this kind of reading is of little significance. However, the reading speed of scientific and academic masterpieces must be slowed down, and there is no room for "blind people touching the elephant".
Of course, there is also a kind of "slow reading", that is, sitting in front of the TV watching a play while reading, or lazily turning pages before going to bed, or lazily pretending to read in a coffee shop or salon. That kind of "slow reading" is actually anodyne, and now it is also called "fast reading" by many people. However, after being so "happy", only you know how much you have paid and how much you have gained. You know, it's hard not to study. How can you get something for nothing easily? Obviously, without a strong purpose, self-set goals or self-pressure, whether it is "fast reading" or "slow reading", will not achieve great results. If we say that our reading is not casual "pleasing to the eye", not reading those popular novels, fashion magazines and lace news, but to understand, learn lessons and acquire skills, it is to read serious books. Then, we will all "toss" ourselves, and we will all pay the price of hard work, hard work, trouble and fatigue. The process will be "painful", and only the result of reading can make us feel gratified, gratified and happy. Therefore, in the true sense of the process, both "fast reading" and "slow reading" will be laborious: "fast reading" requires faster eye scanning, faster finger flipping, faster brain response, and even faster heartbeat and higher blood pressure, because the fast rhythm of "killing" and "killing" will not kill people in a unit time; Similarly, if you concentrate on "slow reading", you will make great efforts and rack your brains. Finally, your belt will gradually widen, and you will languish for Iraq.
Admittedly, if this kind of purposeful and self-imposed "slow reading" or "fast reading", the gains after physical and mental exhaustion are still considerable. On the one hand, "fast reading" not only broadens people's horizons and broadens their knowledge, but also expands the interface of observing thoughts through multi-dimensional comprehensive comparison. And "fast reading" also trains people's thinking, reaction, perception and acceptance. On the other hand, "slow reading" makes people calm down and concentrate, which can not only better understand the author's original intention and capture useful information, but also train people's attention, association and judgment.
Because of this, our reading should not be biased towards "slow reading" or "fast reading", but both, so as to achieve fast and slow, combine fast and slow, and pay equal attention to efficiency and quality. In short, I want to advocate the combination of "fast reading with quality" and "slow reading with depth", so that readers can master these two methods, really improve their reading level, and achieve "quick response, slow thinking, sensitive understanding and thorough action" in order to be consistent with the rhythm of modern society.