Written on the front: This is an article about "why read". Summarizing my reading experience in the past few years, I have also carefully selected the book list for reference. This "I don't want to understand" series, I will try to update it.
This article has 8000+ words, divided into four parts: reading reasons, book selection methods, reading skills, and pro-selection book list, and there is a book list summary at the end of the article, which is recommended for collection.
First, what is the use of reading
There are many advantages of reading, everyone knows it more or less, and it is not a big nagging. Here are a few uncommon points:
1. Books are high-quality content sources that filter out low-value information
Let's take a long look at it and talk about what kind of information flow is in the moment and how it affects our lives. Knowing this background, you will have a deeper understanding of the importance of reading.
The popularity of mobile networks and smart terminals has made us start to use mobile phones to access the Internet. More and more information on mobile phones is trying to take away our attention.
There are pros and cons, the pros and cons are not repeated, the bad side is a lot of worthless or low-value information, which takes up too much of our time.
So where is the time spent and what are we looking at?
Looking at a set of data, there is a perception, vibrato and Kuaishou have hundreds of millions of people using it every day, and the average use time is about 2 hours. It can be simply understood that we don't consider WeChat first, but the content form of short videos takes up a lot of our time.
In terms of content form, the root cause lies in the fact that the medium is changing. From authoritative media to self-media, from graphics to short videos, the result is a huge amount of new information every day. And because media sources are open, many non-authoritative self-media can also produce content and distribute it.
In order to obtain better exposure and playback, some self-media are trying to do eye-catching content. From the perspective of human nature, the type of content that can attract most people is content such as curiosity, violence, and sex.
From the perspective of user appeal, these types of content can only meet people's pastime needs and achieve the effect of mood conversion, that is, through entertainment and entertainment, to help people temporarily escape the pressure and burden brought by work and life, and bring a sense of emotional liberation.
Of course, this is a demand, and there is nothing wrong with it in itself. But the problem is that human nature can't stand the test of addictive content and low-threshold interactions. As a result, short videos take up too much time and even affect our work, life, and study.
To solve this problem, in addition to self-control, it is necessary to choose the source of content that you are exposed to, such as reading.
Because there is a very strict process to follow when publishing a book, and there are also professional publishers and editors to participate, the threshold is very high from the source of production. From the authority of the author to the systematic and scientific nature of the content, it is much better. From this point of view, the content source of the book itself has a strong filtering ability.
Therefore, choosing to read is to choose a reliable content source, which is equivalent to improving the efficiency of your own use of time.
2. Reading can practice and protect concentration
Human concentration is very important for life, work and study, but our ability is slowly deteriorating.
Time cannot be managed because it is not under your control. We do time management, the core is the management of concentration. The output of efficient work, learning and thinking requires the use of concentration, the need for immersion to be able to complete, and the value to personal growth is decisive.
Attention can be thought of as muscles that require intentional and continuous training. The more you use it, the more developed the muscle becomes; the worse it is, and vice versa. The terrible thing is that there is too much information in the smartphone, and it is very convenient to use, and the top talents on the market are making such mobile products, and the goal is personal use time, that is, to obtain our concentration.
Reading is a way to improve concentration. In addition, there are meditation, long-distance running, etc.
Books are systematic, not fragmented, so they require a certain amount of reading and thinking. The form of this behavior is actually an exclusive use of time and attention, that is, when doing the book reading thing, there is no other way to do anything else, forming a state of deep immersion.
Put down your phone and pick up the book. Focus on the book for as long as possible and read it immersively. Even if the mind runs away, it doesn't matter, pull back and continue. After repeating this for a period of time, the concentration will slowly increase and the immersion time will also increase. Just like practicing strength in the gym, the weight that can be lifted at first is limited, but the strength will increase after repeated training.
3. Reading is a kind of self-inspiration
I have always opposed particularly utilitarian reading. Utilitarianism here means that there is a very specific problem in the brain that does not know how to solve, and hopes to solve it by reading a book.
Reference books can indeed meet the needs of readers "what and how to do", but the specific problems in real practice can certainly not be directly answered from the book. There are also cases where books are only used as dictionaries, but looking up dictionaries is not strictly a category of reading.
The best state of reading is that although the book is not the field of your major or the industry in which you work, in the process of reading, you are inspired and suddenly enlightened, and you have a good way to solve work or life problems, and you get practical gains in the unconscious state, which is a kind of self-enlightenment.
This state of unconsciousness, the immersion mentioned above, is also a kind of emptiness, and the brain is more likely to have self-enlightenment in this state.
In addition, the nature of knowledge has a commonality, such as horizontal interdisciplinary correlation, or the relationship between phenomena and essence. For example, you study economics, but you can find inspiration for economics topics in a novel; or you can learn how to get along better with your children in the process of reading history books.
Therefore, it is possible to enter a state of immersion in thinking and emptiness, and books are the best boosters for this state.
Second, how to choose a book
To pay attention to book selection, many people will underestimate the importance of this matter. The time we usually allocate to reading is very small, and most people are between 4-8 hours a week, so this time becomes very precious.
If you give this time to a bad book, it means missing a good book, which is actually a loss for yourself, that is, the concept of time cost.
Especially for novices who have just begun to cultivate reading habits, it takes two weeks to read a book, and the result is to choose a book that is not so good or not suitable for themselves, resulting in less harvest after reading or because they cannot understand and bring pain, which will affect the formation of reading habits.
The problem we are facing now is that the channels for book selection decisions are unstable, such as friend recommendations, JD/WeChat reading/Douban reading lists, media/celebrity recommendations, live recommendation, etc. In these channels, some are to sell books, some are to earn traffic, and some can only represent their own likes, so they are not necessarily suitable for their own decision-making paths.
Therefore, to summarize a set of book selection methods that suit you, there are 3 book selection techniques:
1. Read more classics and choose the current bestsellers carefully
There are many books that have been published for more than 20 years or more, but are still being reprinted and still selling well on the market, which are classics. Because such a book finds the essence of the problem, it can stand the test of time, not only in the 90s of the last century, but also in 2022.
For example, "Influence", "Positioning", "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", of course, not only the management class, but also the literature and discipline classes.
Why choose the best sellers carefully? This kind of current and best-selling list generally appears on the platform of selling books. Book selling platforms and publishing houses are more willing to sell new books, which not only meets the needs of consumers to buy books, but also promotes the repeated operation of the business model from selling new books to new books.
Therefore, the priority of selling new books is much higher than selling good books. The best-selling list that consumers see is really just a best-seller, not a list of good books.
Of course, carefully choosing the current best-selling rather than absolutely not choosing, can also be used as a reference. At the very least, it gives you an idea of which new books have surfaced recently. When you see a book that is very interesting, you can also buy it to read. For example, these are the books I once selected from the best-selling list:
Facebook: The Rise and Fall of a Business Empire
Monkeys of Chaos: Silicon Valley's Dirty Wealth and Random Failure
Silicon Valley Growth Hacking Practice Notes
Eclectic : Netflix's Freedom and Responsible Work Act
Declassify Instagram
These books should not be typical, but they are very close to the current scene, and it is still very happy to read.
2, make good use of the Douban reading tool
There must be a library and shelves to choose. Douban reading is the most complete and structured best book selection tool at present, and the selection of books depends on it.
There are two use cases, namely reading reviews and directed books.
Look at the comments, the scene is to know the book first but do not know whether it is good or not, you can go to the Douban reading to see the ratings and evaluations. Of course, the score can only be used as a reference, after all, there is a sample bias in the user group that will use Douban scoring, so some types of books will be high, but this is already the most authoritative and objective tool.
Orientation to find books, the scene is to understand the knowledge of a certain field, such as psychology, then you can go to the Douban reading "classification browsing", find the "psychology" tag, you can sort by synthesis or evaluation, select the books of interest. As shown in the following figure:
In addition, the directional search for books can also see the user UGC's bean column and the official list, one of the entrances to the official TOP list is on the details page of a book, see the following figure:
3, don't just look at the cover and title, look at the author and the table of contents
Covers and titles are like the titles and cover images of public accounts, which are helpful for indicators such as CTR, and from the perspective of conversion rate, of course, it is good to attract more people to read and click, but it does not represent the quality of the content itself.
Authors are simpler filter elements. Some authors are trustworthy with their masterpieces or industry backgrounds, as long as what they write is at least worth paying attention to. For example, Daniel Kahneman, Malcolm Gladwell, Wu Xiaobo, etc.
Of course, it does not mean that they have to read every book, nor does it involve how well they are mixed in the moment, but at least there are representative works that deserve attention.
Also, you can go to the catalog.
From the table of contents, you can see the structure of the entire book. For example, whether to throw out a core idea and then expand this "total score type" in chapters, or the "N rule type" that lists a few points but does not pursue the system and exhaustion, or the "storytelling type" that tells the whole story of personal or other experiences and is commonly found in the inspirational growth category.
The clarity of the description in the directory can also see the direction in which the problem is described. Whether it is more academic, or a little white entry; is it abstract metaphysics, or more practical guidance.
The classic case I've experienced is the book "Monkeys of Chaos: Silicon Valley's Dirty Wealth and Random Failures", and I have to say that the cover and title are really bad. Even if the author compares Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to chaotic monkeys, there is no need to put them on the title and cover, and domestic readers will not associate the two.
If I hadn't looked at the table of contents and the introduction at the time, the title and cover of the book would have been very dissuaded, see the picture above. But after reading the introduction, I found that it was a bit interesting, and after reading it, I felt that it was very enjoyable, and the situation I saw in Kuaishou was very close, and there was a strong sense of substitution.
The above two pictures are the content and the author's profile, including the long table of contents, which makes me want to read. This is a negative but vivid case, and it is a good book.
After talking about choosing books, it's time to talk about reading. Many people actually know that reading is important, but they can't stick to it, and they have ideas and no action. I asked you about reading in the knowledge planet of "Operating Dog Work Diary" before, and it is still not optimistic from the situation in the following figure.
The main thing is that I have not developed the habit of reading and have not experienced the joy of reading. Here are a few reading tips, I hope to help you develop habits and experience fun faster.
Third, what is a good way to read
1. Start with a book that you can read and have fun reading
When watching coaches train children who are new to football, they will not immediately start boring training with the ball, that is, let them play and play in the field. The purpose is to cultivate children's interests in this simple and low-threshold way. If you are frustrated when you first touch football, children are not willing to continue practicing.
The same is true of reading, first cultivate interest. If you can't read a book for a month, you can choose a book that you can read or read happily, and don't pursue the quality of the book, and don't read according to any list to avoid frustration.
I myself developed the habit of reading very late, and looking back, the quality of the books I read at first was relatively poor and there was no depth. But it doesn't matter, just help yourself to read it. Therefore, friends do not have to hate that they can't read bill Gates or Yu Jun's book list, first develop the habit, reading is a happy thing.
2, buy more books and hoard books, do not need to read a book to buy a book
It is not to advocate irrational random consumption, but to say that when reading, it is best to have a variety of choices. The scenario is that when you finish reading book A and start choosing the next one, you can have multiple options.
For example, just after reading a brain-burning textbook, you can choose a celebrity biography or novel to change your brain, which is more efficient. Of course, you can continue to read a textbook of the same type to continue to consolidate your knowledge from multiple angles. When you have many books in your hand, you have room for choice.
Some friends read books specially programmatically, must read the book in hand, will buy the next book, basically do not tun books, this is actually not conducive to reading when dealing with different situations, there is no room for flexibility and extension, but may bring frustration.
3. Try to read 2-3 books in parallel, and choose according to your reading scene and mood
When reading, I often encounter this situation: the book is too boring, the reading is too hard, resulting in not wanting to pick up the book again. Books that should have been read in a week turned out to take a month to complete, and it was inefficient.
This situation is stuck in a book, if you change books at this time, the situation is different, you may be able to read two books in a month.
Our act of reading is a hobby and self-improvement, not a work or study task, so there is no need to get stuck in a book, too much waste of time. If the book is very unhappy to read, or it is very hard, you can try to give up first, or find another book to read alternately.
For example, hardcore theory and novels are read in parallel, and they can be switched according to the scene of reading and personal status. Weekday nights are very tired, reading novels; weekend mornings brain clear, read hardcore theory; depressed mood needs to be relieved release, read novels; just hit chicken blood inspiration to do the best, read hardcore theory.
If you read a book in serial, it takes a week to read a novel, two weeks to read a hard-core theory, and three weeks to read two books; if two books are in parallel, it may take two weeks to complete. The optimization is the efficiency of reading time to avoid getting stuck.
4, first look at the table of contents and structure of the whole book, read with emphasis, do not chew word by word
Especially for non-fiction books, they all have their own routines. As mentioned above, either the whole book is presented around a central idea, and the chapters are branches, or there are several laws juxtaposed, unrelated to each other, and the whole does not have to be systematic.
To understand a book in this way, you must carefully read the table of contents and quickly flip through the book in 10 minutes. You will find that there are several chapters that are important and interesting, and there are 1-2 chapters that are of little value, and can be skimmed.
Don't read it verbatim, it's very inefficient. Listening to the descriptions of a few friends, they read the book from the first word of the book, word by word, requiring themselves to read every sentence, even starting from the recommendation, which is unreasonable.
When you understand the structure and main ideas of the whole book, it will be very efficient to read it with emphasis. After the novice gets started, there will be a feeling of skipping reading, that is, some paragraphs definitely do not need to be read carefully, just skip. Some just stopped and thought about it over and over again.
5, the key books, be sure to write reading notes
A few years ago, I set myself a year-round goal of "reading XX books". Later, I found that the number of books was of little significance, because I ignored the quality of books and my own absorption level, coupled with the cultivation of reading habits, the number was no longer a problem.
Later, I changed it to "Intensive Reading XX". This intensive reading means to select the key book, read it and write out the reading notes.
In the process of reading a book in two weeks, it will be divided into many times, the battle line is relatively long, and the concentration of each reading is uneven, so after reading it, we may forget it almost, and few people can repeat it systematically.
This is normal, don't worry. As long as you read the first time, and then go back to read the second time, while writing reading notes, you will be able to better absorb.
Saying that it is a second reading, in fact, there is no need to read it page by page, just refine the main points and record and think.
The finally completed reading notes include two parts: first, the core content of the book needs to be systematically refined; second, it must have its own views and feelings, which can be taken out separately or combined with the original text.
The purpose is not only to refine, but also to try to think in combination with your own situation, try to apply and practice repeatedly, so as to truly absorb valuable content.
Fourth, what books should be read in operation
First of all, reading is a very personal thing, everyone's preferences, knowledge level, reading ability, mood and other factors are different, so it is quite unreliable to systematize a framework for reading.
However, the demand for book lists from practitioners is very strong, and there are always many friends who have shared their reading experiences on social media before to discuss and inquire. And all the single-category articles of the book have a good number of views and collections, and are never decaying traffic passwords.
So I tried to write a book advice for operations practitioners, which was certainly not comprehensive and shallow. But I guarantee that these books are all books that I have read myself, that they are the most suitable way of thinking for operations, and the books that best meet the growth needs of operations.
Due to the different career stages of operation practitioners, there are novices who are ready to enter the industry, there are also elderly people who have been in the industry for many years, and more are the backbone of the difficult climbing period. Therefore, the matter of reading is also divided into three stages, which correspond to friends with different needs.
The entire operational book list is divided into three stages, with a total of 60 books. At the end of the article, a summary list will be given, which is convenient for systematic reading and collection.
Stage 1: Beginners
The audience is ready to enter the industry, change careers, just work for about a year of operations newcomers, the appeal is to systematically understand the operation, listen to what experienced people say. For example, basic concepts, functional division of labor, classic cases, etc.
In addition to the operation itself, there is also a need for a basic understanding of related areas such as products, growth, and data. Therefore, the first phase of the introductory book list includes four aspects of operation, product, growth, and data, a total of 10 books.
1. Operation. Recommend "Doing Operations from Scratch", "Light of Operation", and "Super Operation". The advantage of this type of book is that the content comes from the author's experience summary, which can be understood as the work record of the frontline. Therefore, it is easy to read, practical and has a strong practicality, which echoes with real work, and is more likely to resonate and inspire.
The disadvantage is that the system is weak, and the attribution mainly relies on experience, which is basically not falsifiable. And because the author's experience has long and short points, the content of each chapter in the book is different.
The first two books are the best in terms of evaluation and sales, which can fully meet the demands of newcomers to understand the market. The third book, Super Operations, was written by me, in line with the style of this article, and the reviews and sales were not bad. Of these three books, you can choose one of them and read it.
2. Growth class. Operation students who are interested in user growth can also read Qu Hui's "Silicon Valley Growth Hacking Practical Notes", which is the most systematic and grounded user growth book I have ever read.
3. Data. Recommend Huang Chengming's "Data Management", which is the best data analysis book I have ever read. Operation students read this book, do not need to understand it all, there is a system idea framework can be.
4. Product category. Recommend these 5 books: "Product View Behind WeChat", "Yu Jun Product Methodology", "Behind-the-Scenes Products", "Revelation", "Turning Stones into Gold". With the mentality of understanding, to feel the product concept of Zhang Xiaolong, Yu Jun, and Wang Shimu. As a reminder, Brother Long's book may feel similar to not reading it after reading it.
Stage 2: A must-read for growing up
After crossing the threshold of trust, it is the stage of high-speed growth of operation, the duration will be relatively long, at least I myself will be at this stage until I am 30 years old, and I must continue to absorb knowledge related to operation but peripheral.
At this stage, the types of books recommended to read are divided into 6 categories: classics, celebrities, big factories, entrepreneurship, management, and growth, a total of 36 books.
1. Classic
Must-read books: "Influence", "Thinking, Fast and Slow", "Tipping Point", "Positioning", "Pyramid Principle", "Game Changes the World".
These 6 books are repeatedly selected, are classics that have been tested for many years, it is strongly recommended to read them, and they will definitely be helpful for daily work. At least in my work over the past few years, I have consciously used the knowledge in these books many times.
2. Celebrities
Recommend 7 celebrity biographies: "Steve Jobs Biography", "Silicon Valley Iron Man", "Only Paranoia Can Survive", "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance", "Chu Shijian Biography", "Re-understanding Entrepreneurship", "Founder's Notes".
The last three books may rarely be mentioned by the media, namely China Tobacco King/Orange King Chu Shijian, Yidao Car Zhou Hang, and Ctrip/Homeinn/Huazhu founder Ji Qi. The biography of Chu Lao, recording his ups and downs in life, is touching and inspirational; the autobiography of Zhou Hang and Ji Qi is very sincere, the information density is very high, and he can learn a lot of things.
3. Large factory
Dachang story recommendation: "Boiling New Decade" (upper and lower volumes), "Tencent Biography", "Decrypting Instagram", "Nine Defeats and One Victory", "Facebook", "Monkey of Chaos", "Shoe Dog".
It can be seen as an industry story, more understanding of more well-known companies, is the talk of capital, but also the information reserve.
4. Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial experience recommendation: "From 0 to 1", "Redefining the Company", "Lean Entrepreneurship", "Starting Over", "Entrepreneurship Is Difficult", "36 Military Rules for Entrepreneurship".
Although most of them will not start a business, they can also learn to look at problems from the perspective of entrepreneurs, multiple perspectives, and ideas will be fuller.
5. Management
Team management recommendations: "Eclectic", "Win", "Lead the Echelon", "The Fifth Cultivation".
However, the experience of team management, I think or first management and then learn knowledge to improve, only after fighting a hard battle, dealing with thorny problems, it is possible to become a real sense of the manager. A harmonious mess is by no means good management.
6. Growth
Refers to personal growth experiences and suggestions, recommended: "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", "Deep Work", "I Only Work 3 Hours a Day", "The Most Important Thing, Only One Thing", "The Courage to Be Hated".
Among them, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" must read, classic. "The Courage to Be Hated" is generally divided into psychology, but it solves the solution to the dilemma of facing the self in growth, which is also a panacea, so I put it here.
Stage Three: Exploring the Essence
I have one point: operations are science. This means that although we mainly rely on experience in our daily operational decisions, in fact, there are scientific conclusions behind these experiences. Interested students, you can go to my previous articles.
So at this stage, we must learn the scientific theories related to operational work and find the underlying logic in daily work. In this way, when we do planning and strategy, and then think about it, we will not follow the clouds and will innovate.
The recommended books at this stage mainly focus on psychology, communication studies, and sociology. There are certainly many other disciplines that are also relevant, and in order to avoid divergence, here are the four categories that are used more often, a total of 14 books.
1. Psychology
Must-read books: Psychology and Life, This Is Psychology, The Ragged Crowd, 40 Studies that Changed Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Social Psychology.
In these 6 books, if you are a friend who has never been in contact with psychology, you can start with "Psychology and Life", the characteristics of this book are very general and easy to understand, but they are not in-depth.
In addition, "The Ragtag" is a very magical existence. Due to the early death of the author, Gustav Le Pen, the book became a public copyright book, and it was constantly being published by many publishers, so it had a large readership and became an important work in the field of sociology and psychology.
But the extremes of the ideas and the lack of positivist analysis have made the book controversial. Given the importance of this book, it is also good to recommend that you read it from a critical perspective, which will bring more extended thinking and desire for verification and research.
In addition to these 6 must-reads, there are several good psychology-related books that can be read for reference: "Stunned! Psychology is So Good", "Intimate Relationships", "Flow", "Native Family", "Social Animals".
2. Communication Studies
Required reading list: "Communication Course", "Entertainment to Death", "Mass Communication Theory", "Initial Communication", these 4 books are suitable for non-professional but want to understand students to read.
You can choose the "Communication Studies Course" as the first book to read, the content structure of this book is more systematic, and it is relatively close to work, not so jerky. McLuhan's Understanding the Medium is a classic, but it's hard to read, so it's not included.
Communication science is an interdisciplinary discipline and has a lot in common with the psychology mentioned above, so it is much easier to start with psychology and then dabble in communication science.
3, Sociology
Must-read list: "Stunned! It turns out that this is sociology," "Native China," "Communities Across Borders," and "Realistic Social Construction."
Non-professional students start with "Stunned! It turns out that this is sociology", which simply explains the basic concepts in the form of comics. Not deep enough, but intuitive and fun, good to get started.
Fei Xiaotong and Xiang Biao's books are to be read, in addition to the two above pictures, there are also "Gangcun Economy" and "Using Yourself as a Method", which can be read selectively. In Xu Zhiyuan's "Thirteen Invitations" program, there is also an interview with Xiang Biao, which can be found in Tencent Video.
There are also several sociology books, which are also very noteworthy: "A Brief History of Race in the United States", "A Brief History of Mankind", "A Brief History of the Future", "Chrysanthemum and the Knife", "Death and Life in American Big Cities", "Jiangcheng", "Finding China", "Sweeping out the Door".
That's all there is to it.
Finally, the 60 books recommended this time are certainly not the most complete, such as no psychology, history, philosophy, etc.; nor are they necessarily the highest rated and common in the list. But I can guarantee that I have read all the books that I have read myself and are more suitable for operations to read.