Editor's Note
April day on earth, the most beautiful time to read.
On the occasion of World Book Day on April 23, Beijing Youth Daily Daily Supplement launched the "Questionnaire • Third Season", hoping that in the era of fragmented information, people will not give up paper reading; under the trend of electronics, they still maintain their love for paper books.
Different from the questionnaires of the previous two seasons, this season specially invited Shi Hang, Zheng Yuanjie, Xiao Fuxing, Tang Xiaobing, Fu Guangming, Li Dongjun and Yuan Yidan, seven old friends of the "Daily Supplement" and senior book lovers as the "question writers" of the questionnaire, they put their thoughts on reading into the title, in the high-quality questions and answers, readers can appreciate the joy and power that reading brings to mankind.
Reading is the investment behavior with the highest return rate in the world, and I hope that this version of the questionnaire can enlighten and moisten the hearts of every book lover.
World Book Day Album Fifth Edition
Author: Li Dongjun (Professor, School of History, Nankai University)
Respondent: Green Tea (Book Reviewer, Illustrator)
Zhao Zongbiao (newspaperman, writer, woodcut artist)
Far Away (Grass Baby Book Club Initiator)
one
Do you think paper reading is a culturally conservative way of reading?
Green Tea: New forms of reading are only available in recent decades. For thousands of years, human beings have maintained paper reading, which seems to have become part of the human gene, even if the Internet reading, electronic reading is developed, and even video, audio are counted as the form of reading, people still will not give up paper reading. Even on the little red books gathered by young people, people's favorite books are paper books. It can be seen that paper reading is still the most fashionable and elegant form of reading.
Zhao Zongbiao: No. Technological progress changes the way people live. If Confucius lived in the present, he would also read e-books instead of Bamboo Jane. Because it's convenient.
Far away: The word conservative is slightly pejorative in modern Chinese. But if paper reading has become an outdated, outdated way of reading at the moment— radical, I would have stood in the ranks of cultural conservatism.
Paper reading in the traditional sense, whether reading books or reading newspapers, is my favorite spiritual home. Living in modern society, of course, I can't avoid fingertip reading and reading e-books, but paper reading is my private garden at night. As I get older, I, the gardener, pay more and more attention to cleaning up the weeds in the garden. I did this both for myself and for the sake of the children who would have a chance to come in the future. The garden isn't Disney and doesn't need to be that big; it's not a botanical garden either, it doesn't need to be that much. Perhaps, this is a manifestation of what you call conservatism.
two
Do you think paper reading is becoming "traditional" and being replaced by online browsing?
Green Tea: Paper reading has been a "tradition" for thousands of years, but the form of paper books has changed. Chinese books have changed from the "codex era" to the "engraving era" and now to the "era of western-style books", and the tradition of reading has not changed.
Internet reading, while having a big impact, doesn't seem to be a complete replacement. The technological revolution only changes the medium of communication, not the nature of reading, and in the end, the Internet is also "content is king". Even if the most traditional ancient books are electronic, it will not change the enthusiasm of ancient book collectors for ancient books. Reading, collecting and using books should go their separate ways in the Internet age.
Zhao Zongbiao: Yes. One machine in hand, ten thousand copies in possession. Paper books cannot have such a convenient form of storage, review, and portability.
Far away: From the phenomenon we observe every day, the renewal of technology will bring many changes in life, but I am not worried that our books will withdraw from the stage of history like the earlier bamboo and silk books, even if we have moved from the era of Internet surfing to the era of mobile phone Internet. On the contrary, I personally feel that paper reading will become a yangchun white snow with the lowest threshold in the future. It represents personal cultivation, cultural retro cognition, and so on.
From the observation of our members of the Grass Baby Book Club, most book lovers love to read on paper. At every offline reading party, you can see various translations of foreign novels. To paraphrase a phrase from the fashion world: elegance never goes out of style.
three
Can a paper book feed you better quality reading and, in turn, spark your thoughts?
Green Tea: The way of thinking is indeed closely related to reading habits. Reading on paper is indeed more conducive to thinking in our generation of people who grew up reading paper books. Black and white is a magical combination that projects a field of thinking in our brains, where different books collide, intersect, and intertext, creating a "market of ideas" where different people take what they need.
Zhao Zongbiao: Not necessarily. Whether or not the reader can think about the content has nothing to do with whether the carrier is paper. From the current point of view, the ideological content of paper books has no advantage.
Far Away: No, I'm not so sure. Admittedly, paper readings have a large volume and can carry more content, but in today's era of fragmentation and immediacy, there are many things that can trigger my thinking and resonance.
They revolve around our surroundings or international current affairs, and these readings are like 100,000 plus words on WeChat, which can immediately arouse the attention and resonance of the public, which seems to be inseparable from people's lives today. These reading texts are very different from those in books, and there is no better comparison. If Confucius lived today, he would become the big V of the world.
shop
In reading, you may meet many heroes and many greats, but can you find yourself in reading?
Green Tea: Discovering yourself is indeed a long process, and long-term reading will develop the ability to think independently. Those so-called heroes and great people are gradually trivialized and de-sanctified in your heart, and even great people like Confucius and Sima Qian, you will see them as adults, not gods.
And when you can look at these heroes and great people in the eye, it is the time to find yourself. Of course, the premise of everything must be that you read enough books to get to know the so-called heroes and great men from different perspectives.
Zhao Zongbiao: No. When I was a teenager, I did encounter many heroes and great men. After middle age, there are no heroes and great men found in the reading, they are all people with human nature. In reading, whether it is a hero or a clown, you can always find your own reflection.
Far Away: Yes, the ancients said to see the wise and the wise, but although only occasionally can they discover their small selves—the self that is sometimes trembling and sometimes non-committal, but every time it can touch the soul, especially the works of those who criticize the masters of realism.
This process of discovering oneself is a profound experience that is very different from the many sensational texts that read. When exchanging reading experiences offline, it often triggers many similar resonances, exchanges and discussions. As an organizer, these moments are always memorable to me.
five
Reading word by word from the paper will make you feel more deeply in reading?
Green Tea: The answer to this question is the same as the third question, and the magic of black and white has always fascinated me.
Zhao Zongbiao: No. Reading can absorb, resonate, or reflect. When I was a teenager, I read it word for word, and I didn't necessarily understand the connotation. That's the absorption phase. A re-glance after middle age may be in tears. Because there is resonance. Some of the content, the understanding may be completely different from the original, there is shock, there will be reflection.
Far Away: Absolutely. Reading verbatim or sketching in circles around a book is something I do a lot. I can also give many examples of book club book friends: one book friend has written a dense experience in the tome of "War and Peace"; some book friends will write their own reading experience into their personal WeChat public account; some book friends like to draw a mind map of reading.
Some reading habits are a kind of addiction that can be called a disease, and can also be regarded as an addiction disease. For example, some translated novels will not even be satisfied with reading word by word, but will find the original text, representing the reader and the author and the translator to meet with the translator.
land
Books that carry the mission of reading, and the civilized style they present, will give you a beautiful surprise?
Green Tea: Yes, books are beautiful. Especially looking at those hundreds of thousands of years of ancient books, ancient characters, ancient paper, ancient seals, it is really too beautiful, but unfortunately I can't afford it. Therefore, over the years, I have frequently visited the study rooms of different bibliophiles, just to enjoy as many beautiful things and special things as possible, which is really beautiful.
Today's books are becoming more and more exquisite in terms of binding, design, wording, folio, etc., as well as the selection of The Most Beautiful Books in China and the Most Beautiful Books in the World. Of all the civilizational patterns of mankind, books are undoubtedly in the aesthetic echelon.
Zhao Zongbiao: Yes. I'm a beautyist, and I'll buy well-designed books, not necessarily read them. Especially liked the hardcover book.
Far Away: Yes, there must be a touch of beauty. As for whether it was a surprise or not, I'm not quite sure. A writer in the West once said: Books are my original hometown. This sentence is applicable to every book-loving person.
In the early years, we readers could still experience this joy of homecoming in bookstores, libraries and book markets, but when the current bookstore was full of coffee aromas and the book market became a demolition site, I naturally had a more homesickness. And whether the current books still carry the mission of reading, I also have some doubts. Your question made me doubt myself, as if I were seeing a young me in class who was named to answer a difficult question.
Seven
When thoughts are about to turn into clouds of sorrow and fog, and knowledge degenerates into a worrisome sunset, do we need to read to heal?
Green Tea: I don't know if reading is so strong, but at least it can be regarded as the most important station on the road to healing. For me, I may not want to go any further down when I get to this station, after all, few people can reach the other side of the mind.
Zhao Zongbiao: No. Politicians are needed to rescue them.
Far away: If the mind has been tainted, if the knowledge has degenerated, I think it is a human problem, a social problem. Reading is a means of doing so, but it is only capable of achieving the salvation of the individual. To solve the cultural problems of a society, it is necessary for the collective cultural consciousness of the whole society. If every parent loves books, that future is worth imagining.
We initiated the book club in the name of the translator Mr. Cao Bao, and officially registered a non-governmental organization in Shanghai, hoping to bring a fresh green to the residual yang loess. In the three years since its inception, many book friends have opened up the territory of reading, deepened the understanding of the text, and forged friendships along the way. I think it all makes sense.
split open
If I said it was beautiful to hold a book and read it, would you hold a book and read a few pages a day?
Green Tea: I read every day, no matter whether the posture is beautiful or not, many times I also read in the toilet. Recently, I have become a video blogger, and I am exploring in the book pile every day, looking for some topics and good books, making videos and sharing them with fans. Although they appear silly and don't look beautiful at all, fortunately, there are layers of books in the background, they are beautiful, and it doesn't matter if I'm ugly. Maybe when you watch the videos, you also want to read those books, not watch me nagging there.
Zhao Zongbiao: When I was a teenager, I read more than one book a day, and now there are fewer and fewer books to read. When I encounter good books, I am used to reading them in one sitting. Never considered whether the posture of reading is beautiful or not. Beautiful women reading, of course, are more beautiful.
Far Away: Haha, Teacher Li's question is too good. There will be various extensions of the readership of the Grass Baby Book Club in the future, so allow me to relay your question to every expectant mother reader.
I know a diligent reader who completes his reading notes on time every week without hesitation. Her head is an oil painting of a girl holding a book and reading quietly on a bench, with a cute shepherd dog at her feet. This painting is beautiful and I want to share it with more friends. Personally, reading likes to sneak around. As the ancients said that reading "three up", this sneaky picture, hehe, can not talk about beauty.
Guest recommendation
Recommender: Green tea
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Bookmaking: The Art of Handbinding Western Books by Douglas Cochrell by Yu Bin, translated by Katie
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