23 April 2022 is the 27th World Book Day. This is also the third World Book Day under the covid-19 pandemic.
Two years ago, when COVID-19 first met World Book Day, we saw reading as a human choice to explore the unknown and fill our hearts.
Writer Maugham said: "Reading is a refuge to carry with you".
When the sudden epidemic has impacted people's existing social cognition, changed our lives, and shaken the existing governance system as never before, reading really helps us to soothe anxiety, expand the unknown world, and force us to make great strides in technological innovation, urban governance and other fields.
However, two years later, the epidemic is still raging, the society is still noisy, and the topics of "prevention and control strategies in the macro link and governance details of the micro link" and "fundamental public demands and individual encounters at the micro level" are still fiercely clashing.
People throw out a lot of questions about this, and they are also amplifying all kinds of misfortunes. Behind the world's chaos and chaos is the increasing sense of anxiety and distrust.
In an era when everyone has a microphone, how can we think independently? On this world book day, on our days at home, we might as well pick up a book and read it.
Although reading will not allow us to get answers to all our questions, it can free us from being wrapped up in all kinds of speech, cautiously expressing the truth before it is clear, accurately speaking out when expressing our own demands, and adding a wall between false information and effective governance, so that we are not confused about the present and have more hope for the future.
The value of reading, of course, does not stop there. On World Book Day, we shared the views of 10 famous artists on the value and meaning of reading, hoping that these insights will help those who are in a confused situation to regain the joy of reading and stay away from the epidemic.
01
Harold Bloom
Professor of literature and famous literary critic
If people are to retain any ability to form their own judgments and opinions, it becomes important that they continue to read for themselves. How they read, whether they understand or not, and what they read, cannot depend entirely on themselves, but why they read must be for their own interests and in their own interests. You can read just to kill time, or with obvious urgency, but in the end you'll be racing against the clock.
Bible readers, i.e., those who study the Bible for themselves, may illustrate that urgency better than Shakespearean readers, but the pursuits of both are the same.
One of the purposes of reading is to prepare ourselves for change, and that final change is for anyone.
Ultimately, we read books—as Bacon, Johnson, and Emerson all agree—to enhance ourselves and understand our true interests. We experience this kind of expansion as pleasure, and this may be why aesthetic values have always been belittled by social moralists from Plato down to the Puritans of our campuses today.
It is true that the pleasure of reading is selfish, not social. You can't directly improve anyone else's life by reading more broadly or deeply.
There is a traditional hope in society that the growth of one's imagination may stimulate people to care for others, but I am skeptical, and I am equally wary of whether any expansion brought about by the pleasure of reading alone will advance the public interest.
02
Hesse
German writer and poet
True cultivation is like real sports, at the same time it is both completion and motivation, reaching the end everywhere but never stopping, always in the middle of the road, resonating with the universe, living in eternity. Its purpose is not to improve this or that ability or ability, but to help us find meaning in life, to correctly understand the past, and to meet the future with a fearless spirit.
Different paths can be taken to attain true upbringing. One of the most important ways is to study world literature, to become familiar with the works of writers and thinkers of various countries and the great wealth of ideas, experiences, symbols, illusions and ideals they have left us in their works.
The road is endless, and no one can come to an end at any time; no one can read through and understand the whole literature of even a culturally developed people at any time, let alone the literature of mankind as a whole.
However, a deep understanding of the masterpiece of each thinker or writer will make you feel satisfied and happy—not because you have acquired dead knowledge, but because you have a living consciousness and understanding.
For us, the problem is not to read and know as much as possible, but to freely choose masterpieces in which we can completely indulge in them in our personal leisure, to appreciate the vastness and richness of human thoughts and desires, so as to establish a vivid connection between ourselves and the whole of humanity, so that our hearts beat with the beating of the human heart.
This, in the final analysis, is the meaning of all life, if it is not only to live to satisfy those naked needs. Reading is by no means intended to make us "distracted", but to concentrate our minds; not to paralyze us with false consolation and to blind us to a meaningless life, but, on the contrary, to help us to make our lives more and more full, noble, and meaningful.
03
Michel de Montaigne
French thinker and writer
The interaction with books has accompanied me throughout my life and helped me everywhere.
It was a comfort in my old age and solitude. It relieves me of idleness and boredom and is always ready to help me get rid of my annoying companions. It can blunt the pain of the thorn if the pain is not extreme and overwhelming.
The only way to get rid of a lingering thought was to turn to books, which quickly drew me over and helped me avoid it.
But books are not angry that I only go to them when I don't get other, more real, more vivid, more natural enjoyments; they always receive me with a consistently amiable face.
04
Artur Schopenhauer
German philosopher
Thinking and reading have an incredible difference in their impact on the human spirit. As a result, this exacerbates the differences in thinking that already exist between people. Because of the difference in nature, some people love to think, and some people like to read.
Reading is the imposition of certain foreign, heterogeneous thoughts on our minds that do not correspond to our spirit, like a seal forcibly leaving a mark on paraffin wax. Thus our minds are under pressure that comes entirely from the outside, thinking about this and thinking about that, neither instinctively nor because of liking.
A large amount of pure reading will make our spirit lose its sensitivity, just like a spring that is continuously pressed under pressure will push elasticity.
If a person doesn't want to think about it, the safest thing to do is to pick up a book as soon as they're free. This explains why erudition often makes many people more stupid and numb than they used to be, and prevents their work from succeeding. As Pope said, they are always: they keep reading others, but they are never read by others.
A scholar is a person who reads and studies books all day long. And thinkers, geniuses, and those who illuminate the world and promote human development are those who directly use the great book of the world.
05
Haruki Murakami
Japanese Artists
Why don't you read so much? It's all because of the reduced amount of time spent on reading.
In short, a lot of time is taken up by activities other than reading, resulting in a corresponding reduction in the time to be able to read. For example, running for one and a half to two hours a day, listening to music for two hours, watching videotapes for two hours, walking for one hour... In this calculation, there is little time left to quietly sink down and read.
For the sake of writing, I read a few books a month, but books that have nothing to do with it are honestly not read at all recently, which is very nerve-wracking.
But I think I am not the only one who falls into this situation or even tends to do so. I suspect that the reason why young people have not read much lately is probably because a large proportion of money, time and energy is spent on a variety of activities other than reading.
When I was younger—and I seemed to be an old man soon—I had a lot of time left, and it was easier to have the mood of reading: No way, read a book! At that time, there were no video tapes, records were relatively expensive to buy, sports activities were not as prosperous as they are now, the atmosphere of the times was also rational, and it was easy to be looked down upon by people around them without seeing a certain number of books.
06
Francis Bacon
British philosopher and essayist
When lonely and lonely, reading can be a pastime. When talking high, knowledge can be decorated. When acting in the world, knowledge means talent.
People who understand the cause and effect of affairs are lucky. Although people with practical experience can handle individual affairs, if they want to look at the whole and plan the overall situation, only knowledge can do it.
The purpose of reading is to recognize the principles of things. Reading for critical arguments is boring. But don't be too superstitious about books. The purpose of seeking knowledge is not to boast and show off, but to find the truth and enlighten wisdom.
07
Ji
Linguist, writer, historian, educator and social activist
For thousands of years, the means of preserving wisdom of mankind have not been at two ends, one is physical objects, such as the Great Wall, etc., and the other is books, and the latter is the mainstay.
Before the invention of writing, the preservation of wisdom depended on memory; after the invention of writing, books were used.
Taking out the memories in the mind and moving them to the paper, books are formed, and books are treasures of wisdom that have been passed down from generation to generation.
The people of the later generation must read books in order to inherit and carry forward the wisdom of their predecessors.
The reason why human beings can progress and never stop moving forward is that they can read books and write books.
I often think that human beings move forward like a relay race, and the first generation runs the first stick;
The second generation takes over the baton and runs the second stick, and even the third and fourth rods, forever running, never ending, so that the inheritance of wisdom is never endless.
Such a inheritance depends mainly on books, and books are major events related to the inheritance of human wisdom, so what is it that reading is not "the best thing in the world"?
08
Wang meng
Contemporary Chinese writer and scholar
A valuable book is characterized by its higher level of recognition than the average of a period, and it can be exhausted, which is the result of going to a higher level.
It is actually aimed at the peak of the spirit of the Himalayas, it is raising rather than lowering or catering to the public, and its cognitive level must not be more stupid and lower than the average cognitive level.
The popularization of culture is conducive to cultural democracy, but at the same time it is inevitable to produce cultural garbage.
And, of course, the pretentious garbage. I advocate reading a book that takes a little effort.
Read a little book that you are not used to, and read a little book that requires you to check the information, ask others for advice, and discuss with your teachers and friends.
In addition to interesting books, read a little serious book.
In addition to the books of breaking news, the books of miracles, and the books of venting, it is even more necessary to read books of science, logic, analysis and innovation and artistic courage.
In addition to the books that go down the river, you must also read the books that climb up the edge and need to be weighed.
In addition to the books you are familiar with in the vernacular, the recitation style, and the lecture style, you must also read a little of the books with the atmosphere of the academy, the books in ancient Chinese, the books in foreign languages, and the books in large tomes.
In addition to the books that are easy to read, it is also necessary to read some books that have been read less in the past, so instead of laughing or sighing for ten minutes, but for a moment and a half, I can't find the feeling.
09
Liang Shiqiu
Essayist, literary critic, translator
Things are precious. But books are not ordinary goods.
Books are the crystallization of human wisdom and the treasure of experience, so although the valley is full of books today, the value of books is not measurable by money.
Low price may not be the color difference of the goods, and the best-selling content may not be good.
The value of a book lies in the refinement of its content.
Song Taizong read two volumes of the Taiping Imperial Records and other books every day, and after missing a day, he would make up for it later, saying: "It is beneficial to open the volume, and I don't think it is laborious." ”
This is the origin of the phrase "unwinding is beneficial".
The Taiping Imperial Records collected more than 1,600 kinds of books, divided into fifty-five doors, and the classics of the past dynasties were all collected, so that the Song Taizong Emperor had two volumes of the Day's Leisure, of course, it can be said that "opening the volume is beneficial".
Nowadays we have too many books, even if they are shoddy, at least a wide variety, and the contact is very extensive.
We must have choices in reading, otherwise it will not only be useless but also a waste of time. So what books to read?
It depends on the interests and needs of each person.
In school, if we can meet one or two learned people among the teachers, it is the luckiest thing, and he can properly guide us in the way of reading.
Leaving school is on your own. Reading never hates it too late.
Late, better than never reading. Of course, changing your temperament doesn't have to depend on reading.
For example, the artist has another kind of practice. For us ordinary people, the easiest way to cultivate is to read.
10
Hong Zicheng
Professor of the Department of Chinese, Peking University
Reading is an important spiritual activity in the basic way of human existence.
A scholar once said that if a person reads Don Quixote or Hamlet every year and then records his feelings about reading the book every year, then this record is also his life history. It makes sense to say that a man's reading history is the history of his life. If we find this definition exaggerated, we might think that his state of life and changes will leave traces in this record.
Now there's a big problem: in the past we had a sense of "hunger and thirst" for books, and now that feeling has been lost, or not much.
What used to be the era of the desire to have books is now the era when books have us. We are surrounded by a large number of books, so many books are published every year, and the bookstore is full of all kinds of reading materials, and it has become so easy to obtain books, and there is no longer a feeling of "hunger and thirst". So do I.
When I was in middle school in the 1950s, I had a hard time getting pocket money, and the first two books I bought were Guo Moruo's "Goddess" and Lu Xun's "Selected Short Stories". That feeling of having your own books, that kind of happiness, is not easy for people to experience now.
This is the age of book owners, not the age of people who aspire to own books. Just as the rich are now owned by money, the people in power are owned by power. When people are owned by books, they do not have the mood of being very eager to read.
So, things come too easily, good, and bad. Easily accessible things often do not know to cherish.
Did you read a book today?
What do you think about reading?
Welcome to leave a message to tell us ~
Wen | XVIII
Courtesy of: Network
Source: Some of the content originates from JD.com Books and the public name "How to Read"