There is an old test—it was quite popular a generation ago—that was designed to tell you which books are the ones that can do this for you. Suppose, the test went, that you know in advance that you will be marooned on a desert island for the rest of your life, or at least for a long period. Suppose, too, that you have time to prepare for the experience. There are certain practical and useful articles that you would be sure to take with you. You will also be allowed ten books. Which ones would you select? If we lack resources within ourselves, we cease to grow intellectually, morally, and spiritually. And when we cease to grow, we begin to die.
这是How to read a book一书最后一个部分The Life and Growth of the Mind中提到的一个测试。假如你的余生将在某个荒岛上度过，而你只被允许带十本书，你会选哪十本？
这个选择不太容易做。How to read a book不是教人如何选书的，该书的两位作者Mortimer J. Adler和Charles Van Doren有着十分传奇的经历，他们在书中分享的阅读经验，相信能够解答许多人在阅读中产生的各种困惑。假如你懂得了如何阅读，那么，要鉴别书的好坏，或选择对自己有用的书，也就不是什么难事了。
▍做阅读的掌舵人
When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.
——Blaise Pascal
有些书需要精耕细作，读得太快就无法吸收；有些书只需要浅尝辄止，读得太慢则只会浪费时间精力。阅读不该一味追求速度，读得太快或太慢都是有害的，重要的是根据不同的书及不同的阅读需要来调整自己的阅读策略。
判断自己的阅读需要，就得发挥阅读的主动性了。
作者提到一种普遍的观点，即阅读被认为是完全被动的一种活动，类似在法庭上接受裁决。但作者提出了另一种更恰当的比喻，认为读者其实更像是棒球运动中的接球手。唯一被动的东西，只是那个球而已。
Catching the ball is just as much an activity as pitching or hitting it. The pitcher or batter is the sender in the sense that his activity initiates the motion of the ball. The catcher or fielder is the receiver in the sense that his activity terminates it. Both are active, though the activities are different. If anything is passive, it is the ball. It is the inert thing that is put in motion or stopped, whereas the players are active, moving to pitch, hit, or catch. The analogy with writing and reading is almost perfect. The thing that is written and read, like the ball, is the passive object common to the two activities that begin and terminate the process.
但是阅读跟棒球又是不同的活动，一部作品当中的内容有多少能够被读者所捕获，要看阅读者自己能够投入多少主动性及阅读技巧。
How to read a book提出了Reading for information和Reading for understanding之间的差异。与获取信息、获取资讯的阅读不同，在为了提高自身理解能力而进行的阅读中，阅读者需要突破自身局限，达到更深层次的理解。
同时，这两种不同的阅读，在学习层面上也存在差异，要想从阅读中获得启发，就得弄明白你读的究竟是什么，为什么会这样，以及它与其它事物之间的联系。
To be informed is to know simply that something is the case. To be informed is to know simply that something is the case. To be enlightened is to know, in addition, what it is all about: why it is the case, what its connections are with other facts, in what respects it is the same, in what respects it is different, and so forth.
另外，书读得多，但如果未能真正读透也不是一件好事。正如Montaigne（法国作家蒙田）所说：An abecedarian ignorance that prededes knowledge, and a doctoral ignorance that comes after it. 对于那些误读了很多书的人，Alexander Pope（英国诗人亚历山大·蒲柏）称他们为“bookful blockheads”，希腊人则认为这种人是“sophomores”.
When we speak of someone as “well-read,” we should have this ideal in mind. Too often, we use that phrase to mean the quantity rather than the quality of reading. A person who has read widely but not well deserves to be pitied rather than praised. As Thomas Hobbes said, “If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.”
The great writers have always been great readers, but that does not mean that they read all the books that, in their day, were listed as the indispensable ones. In many cases, they read fewer books than are now required in most of our colleges, but what they did read, they read well. Because they had mastered these books, they became peers with their authors. They were entitled to become authorities in their own right. In the natural course of events, a good student frequently becomes a teacher, and so, too, a good reader becomes an author.
所以这不仅是指导阅读的书，同样有助于写作。
假如有些书实在无法读懂，那么aids to reading也很重要，但不能过分依赖。首先依靠自己的能力去解决问题，然后再求助于外部资源。
On the whole, it is best to do all that you can by yourself before seeking outside help; for if you act consistently on this principle, you will find that you need less and less outside help.
明白了阅读主动性的重要，也要有意识地形成阅读习惯。
- One learns to do by doing.
- Practice makes perfect.
- Habit is second nature.
在养成阅读习惯的过程中，不可避免要学习一些基本的规则和技巧。这些基本的规则和技巧可能会很复杂，很难掌握。但是就像一个成年人学习滑冰一样，每一个步骤和动作要领都要牢记，但最终要抛开这些技巧，才能完整地连贯地完成一次滑冰。李连杰的电影“倚天屠龙记之魔教教主”有一个场景，其它门派前来找茬，张三丰受伤，只得临时传授张无忌太极拳，张无忌迅速习得了太极拳的招式，但依然无法抵挡对方的进攻。这时，张三丰让张无忌把刚才学的招式全部忘记。结果，张无忌用完全不记得招式的太极拳战胜了对手。
▍问不能停
书中多次从各个角度谈到提问的重要性。在阅读的整个过程中，针对不同阶段提出相应的问题，并尽可能去解答这些问题，是一种主动阅读。这使得读者在阅读中时刻警醒，不断思考。
Reading a book on any level beyond the elementary is essentially an effort on your part to ask itquestions (and to answer them to the best of your ability). That should never be forgotten. And that is why there is all the difference in the world between the demanding and the undemanding reader. The latter asks no questions—and gets no answers.
提出问题，思考自己的问题，并清楚自己的问题究竟是什么，属于哪种类型的问题，并使自己的问题与阅读契合。
If you know the kinds of questions anyone can ask about anything, you will become adept in detecting an author’s problems. They can be formulated briefly: Does something exist? What kind of thing is it? What caused it to exist, or under what conditions can it exist, or why does it exist? What purpose does it serve? What are the consequences of its existence? What are its characteristic properties, its typical traits? What are its relations to other things of a similar sort, or of a different sort? How does it behave? These are all theoretical questions. **What ends should be sought? What means should be chosen to a given end? What things must one do to gain a certain objective, and in what order? Under these conditions, what is the right thing to do, or the better rather than the worse? Under what conditions would it be better to do this rather than that? **These are all practical questions.
在词语中、句子中、段落中、整个阅读文本中，去寻找问题，解决问题。没有问题，就没有思考，没有收获。
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature. If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot expect the book to give you any insight you do not already possess.
读者要明察秋毫，仔细分析每一个问题，并将问题组织起来，形成有条理的大纲，而且知道要去哪里寻找问题的答案。
The truth, then, insofar as it can be found—the solution to the problem, insofar as that is available to us—consists rather in the ordered discussion itself than in any set of propositions or assertions about it. Thus, in order to present this truth to our minds—and to the minds of others—we have to do more than merely ask and answer the questions. We have to ask them in a certain order, and be able to defend that order; we must show how the questions are answered differently and try to say why; and we must be able to point to the texts in the books examined that support our classification of answers. Only when we have done all of this can we claim to have analyzed the discussion of our problem. And only then can we claim to have understood it.
识得分寸、愿受教育，是一种美德。
No one is really teachable who does not freely exercise his power of independent judgment. He can be trained, perhaps, but not taught. The most teachable reader is, therefore, the most critical. He is the reader who finally responds to a book by the greatest effort to make up his own mind on the matters the author has discussed.
提问并不等于质问。任何有价值的问题都是可以拿来讨论的，但不负责任的评论，未经思考的批评，不仅对作者无益，对读者来说，同样有害。
You yourself may remember an occasion where someone said to a speaker, in one breath or at most two, “I don’t know what you mean, but I think you’re wrong.”
公正地评判，细心推敲，不喜欢一本书的观点，不代表不同意其观点，这两点有本质区别，阅读是不能任性的。
** You cannot say, as so many students and others do, “I find nothing wrong with your premises, and no errors in reasoning, but I don’t agree with your conclusions.” **All you can possibly mean by saying something like that is that you do not like the conclusions. You are not disagreeing. You are expressing your emotions or prejudices. If you have been convinced, you should admit it.
弗吉尼亚．伍尔夫在《普通读者》中这样说：
他们能把在我们心灵深处翻腾的模糊想法加以照亮并固定成形。但是，只有在我们带着在自己的阅读过程中实实在在碰到的问题和意见去向他们讨教，他们才能对我们有所帮助。如果我们只是聚集在他们权威的阴影之下，像温顺的羊群一样躺在树荫下，他们对我们是无能为力的。而只有当他们的评判与我们的相互冲突并战胜了这种冲突时，我们才能真正理解他们的评判。
▍四种层次
How to read a book分析了四种阅读层次：基础阅读、检视阅读、分析阅读、主题阅读。
其中，基础阅读的最初阶段是从出生到六七岁左右。这个阶段要培养其基础阅读能力，也就是说要“从孩子抓起”。但是需要注意的是，这一阶段不应过于苛求。强迫儿童进行他们尚未准备好要面对的阅读活动，其实对他们的成长和未来的发展都是有害的。
The child who is not yet ready to read is frustrated if attempts are made to teach him, and he may carry over his dislike for the experience into his later school career and even into adult life. Delaying the beginning of reading instruction beyond the reading readiness stage is not nearly so serious, despite the feelings of parents who may fear that their child is "backward" or is not "keeping up" with his peers.
前面提到阅读速度要因书而异，因目的而异。而检视阅读，就是调整阅读速度的一道重要程序。
Think of yourself as a detective looking for clues to a book's general theme or idea, alert for anything that will make it clearer.
对整本书有一个大致的了解，并清楚地知道这本书对自己是否有价值。把自己当作一名侦探，在阅读中产生探索的乐趣。
在分析阅读中，有一个首要原则：归类。如何做呢？ 首先，inspecting the book, 题目、副标题、目录、引言、简介、索引，这些都是Inspectional Reading的部分已经讲过的。These are the signal flags the author waves to let you know which way the wind is blowing.
原来很多人从一本书的题目开始就已经误读了。很多书的书名其实就已经传达出了书中的essential information. 但很可惜，我们在阅读过程中往往忽略如此重要的部分。
同时，在阅读书名之前，读者自己必须要对书籍如何归类有一个概念。
The clearest titles in the world, the most explicit front matter, will not help you to classify a book unless you have the broad lines of classification already in your mind.
而将书籍归类后还是不够，you must know what that kind is.
涉及历史类书籍，这里学一个用法：
The essence of history is narration. History is knowledge of particular events or things that not only existed in the past but also underwent a series of changes in the course of time. The historian narrates these happenings and often colors his narrative with comment on, or insight into, the significance of the events.
Color his narrative, 用color这个词，表示影响、修饰，通俗点来讲，我们都知道这个说法：历史是个任人打扮的小姑娘。
还有一个区分科学类和哲学类书籍的准则：
If a theoretical book emphasizes things that lie outside the scope of your normal, routine, daily experience, it is a scientific work. If not, it is philosophical.
要透视一本书，你必须能够用简明扼要的语言清楚地解释你所阅读的书的核心内容。“大概知道”是不够的，自己要有一个衡量的标准。
“State in your own words!” That suggests the best test we know for telling whether you have understood the proposition or propositions in the sentence. If, when you are asked to explain what the author means by a particular sentence, all you can do is repeat his very words, with some minor alterations in their order, you had better suspect that you do not know what he means. Ideally, you should be able to say the same thing in totally different words. The idea can, of course, be approximated in varying degrees. But if you cannot get away at all from the author’s words, it shows that only words have passed from him to you, not thought or knowledge. You know his words, not his mind. He was trying to communicate knowledge, and all you received was words.
从阅读的主要部分入手，分析这些部分是如何相互联系，又是如何融为一体的。这不仅是在教读者如何进行分析阅读，同时也是在教导读者如何鉴别书籍的优劣。一部好书就像一座设计良好的房子，房子的每个部分都恰到好处地结合在一起，相互支撑，同样地，一部好书也有着类似的精密结构，它的各个部分也许有着很大的差异，但绝不会是零散的。
As houses are more or less livable, so books are more or less readable. The most readable book is an architectural achievement on the part of the author. The best books are those that have the most intelligible structure. Though they are usually more complex than poorer books, their greater complexity is also a greater simplicity, because their parts are better organized, more unified.
That is one of the reasons why the best books are also the most readable. Lesser works are really more bothersome to read. Yet to read them well—that is, as well as they can be read—you must try to find some plan in them. They would have been better books if their authors had themselves seen the plan a little more clearly. But if they hang together at all, if they are a complex unity to any degree and not mere collections, there must be a plan and you must find it.
弄清楚一本书的整体架构，不仅意味着我们可以读好这本书，同时也意味着我们能够与作者进行更密切、更深入的交流（即使是一本不怎么样的书，结构散乱的书，我们依然可以尝试去探索作者原本的思路，并从一本不怎样的书里读出更好的东西。）
这里有一句塞万提斯的话：
Cervantes may or not have been right in saying,** “There is no book so bad but something good may be found in it.”** It is more certain that there is no book so good that no fault can be found with it.
当然，如果你要自己写一个故事或一本书，这也同样有启发意义。
You cannot find terms in dictionaries, though the materials for making them are there. Terms occur only in the process of communication. They occur when a writer tries to avoid ambiguity and a reader helps him by trying to follow his use of words.
这正是通过阅读来学习外语的意义所在。
Many persons believe that they know how to read because they read at different speeds. But they pause and go slow over the wrong sentences. They pause over the sentences that interest them rather than the ones that puzzle them. Indeed, this is one of the greatest obstacles to reading a book that is not completely contemporary. Any old book contains facts that are somewhat surprising because they are different from what we know. But when you are reading for understanding it is not that kind of novelty that you are seeking. Your interest in the author himself, or in his language, or in the world in which he wrote, is one thing; your concern to understand his ideas is quite another. It is this concern that the rules we are discussing here can help you to satisfy, not your curiosity about other matters.
自以为是的读者永远都在，不要让自己成为其中一员。明确自己的阅读目的，采用恰当的方法，知道在阅读中要问什么，怎么问，如何寻找答案。这世上并没有什么读不懂的书。
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