如何更聰明的閱讀，事半功倍

after writing my popular article on speed reading, i received a lot of comments from people who wanted to read faster. but reading faster isn't the whole picture. if you want to get more information with less time, you can't just pick up the pace. you need to read smart.

在我寫完關于快速閱讀的一些文章之后，我收到了許多想讀得更快的人們的評論。但是，僅僅讀得更快并不是全部，如果想在更少的時間內獲取更多的信息，僅僅加快速度是不夠的。你應該學著更聰明地閱讀。

it doesn't matter how fast you can read if you aren't reading anything important.

重要的不是你能讀得多快而是你讀的東西是否重要。

here are some methods i've found when buying books to help eliminate the junk and read smart:

下面是關于買書時如何篩除掉爛書，從而讓你能更聰明閱讀的技巧。

popularity - although i wouldn't say popularity is a universal measure of quality, it does help filter out a lot of crap. a great book might not be popular but if it is on the amazon bestseller list it usually isn't complete garbage.

流行程度 —— 盡管我并不認為流行程度是一個選擇圖書的萬能標準，但是在一定程度上它確實能夠幫我們過濾到很多垃圾。一本好書或許并不流行，但是能夠出現在amazon暢銷書榜上的書一般都不會是徹頭徹尾的垃圾。

subjects that interest you - i only use popularity for about 20-30% of my books. the rest i often pick through simply searching for a subject that interests me. this means i get specific, if you narrow down your subject of curiosity enough you can usually get a book that matches. that means don't search for “fitness” when you want “beginners running.”

感興趣的主題 ——我只對20-30%的書使用上面的方法。其余的，我經常簡單地通過尋找我感興趣的主題來過濾。這意味著我開始對內容變得更挑剔。通過你感興趣的主題來漸漸地縮窄你的瀏覽范圍，最終你就會找到適合你的書。換句話說，在最初開始找書的時候，不要刻意尋找“最合適的書” 。

use the library - books aren't expensive, i can get several weeks worth of reading from amazon for less than a hundred bucks. but often once you buy a book you feel obligated to read it, even if it is drivel. economists call this a sunk cost. get books from the library so you don't feel guilty leaving it unfinished.

使用圖書館 —— 書并不算貴，我常常能用不到一百塊從amazon上買回值得我看幾個星期的書。但是你可能經常會買回來一本你發現并不喜歡的書。經濟學家們將這種現象叫做 ” 沉淀成本”。從圖書館借書，這樣就算你沒讀完，也不會有負罪感。

but how you get books is really the least important aspect of reading smart. i've read few books i could say were complete crap. most had at least a few interesting ideas. the best had great ideas densely packed into the pages and the worst had one or two within three hundred pages of noise.

但怎樣挑書，只是關于怎樣更聰明的閱讀的最不重要的一個方面。事實上。沒幾本書能算得上是徹底的廢話，大多數的書里面至少會有一些能吸引你的觀點。盡管好書往往全書充滿了好的思想，而爛書可能幾百頁的篇幅只有一兩點精華。

the first way to start reading smart is to start cutting out garbage. remember, time is short, information is limitless - read what you need. here are some tips i use to cut down on the amount i read while preserving the best information:

想要更聰明地去閱讀，第一步就是不去讀無價值的東西。時光短暫，信息無限，讀你所需。下面是一些技巧，它教你在能獲取那些最優秀的信息的前提下，盡可能地減少你的閱讀量。

know when not to start - trust your instincts of the book based on the first fifteen pages. i know they tell you not to judge a book by its cover, but if a book is great it usually shows itself within the first few dozen pages.

留意開頭 —— 在讀一本書前十五頁的時候 相信你的直覺。有人會說，不要憑封面判斷一本書，但是如果一本書真的很好，那么往往在頭十五頁你就會發覺。

know when not to finish - there is nothing wrong with putting a book down that you were halfway through.

適時結束 —— 半路就把一本書放下沒有什么不妥。

speed read - speed reading isn't about going faster, but controlling your tempo. know when to speed up and when to speed down. i often reread slowly really good ideas and blur over things that don't interest me.

速讀 —— 速讀不是一味的讀快，而是要適當的控制你的閱讀節奏。 你要知道什么時候該讀快，什么時候該讀慢。 我一般會跳過那些不感興趣的話題而詳讀那些好的觀點。

skip chapters - sometimes the book has interesting ideas but has chapters that don't interest you. if you are reading a book on starting a business for the web company you want to setup, skip over the section on franchising. if the upcoming sections look awful, just skip ahead a chapter to see whether it turns around.

跳過一些章節 —— 有時候一本書會有吸引你的觀點，但在這本書中其他的章節你并不感興趣。那么你可以跳過去. 比如說你為了想建立網絡公司看一本關于創業的書, 那么你就跳過關于特許經營權的部分. 如果哪部分看起來很難懂, 也可以跳過去, 看看后面是不是還會說到這一話題.

the second way to read smart is to utilize the information you want. you've spent a lot of effort filtering out the junk, you might as well use the gems. here are some tips i use to help emphasize good ideas:

第二步就是利用你想獲得的信息。在這以前，你已經花費了很大的精力來過濾掉那些垃圾, 所以你應該好好利用剩下的精華。下面是一些小技巧。

use a highlighter - use a highlighter to reinforce ideas you want to remember. i'm very stingy with the highlighter because it does slow you down, so only the important stays.

用一只高亮筆 —— 用高亮筆把你想記住的觀點劃下來。在用它的時候我很”吝嗇”，因為它減慢了閱讀速度。所以，只在重要的部分停下就足夠了。

stop reading and think - one fault of great books is that they have so many ideas you end up losing them trying to intake too much. whenever i cross a threshold of new ideas in my head i put the book down and think.

讀的時候停下來思考 —— 在讀好書的時候，你失敗的原因之一可能是它們信息量很大而不能很快的接受。我在遇到很多新觀點的時候，我會把書合上開始思考。

applications - when you hit a good idea, ask yourself how you can use it immediately or in the near future. this makes the idea more memorable and more useful.

應用 —— 遇到新觀點時， 試著去問問自己能否立即應用它。這將令這個觀點更容易記住而且更實用。

connections - sometimes good ideas are disguised. when you read something you find interesting but isn't relevant to you, think again. ask yourself how topics from one subject can enhance your understanding in another.

聯系 —— 有的時候好的思想往往被掩蓋住了。當你讀到你感興趣的然而與你不相關的書，再想想。 問問自己這個方面的話題能不能增進你在其他方面的理解。

these techniques for reading apply mostly for non-fiction. if you just want to read a book to be entertained, don't worry about highlighters and skipping chapters. but if you are reading a book because you want the information it contains, don't just read fast, read smart.

這些閱讀技巧主要是針對非小說類圖書的。如果你讀書的目的僅僅是為了消遣，就不需要高亮筆和跳過部分章節了。但是如果你是為了獲取信息而讀書，那么不要僅僅讀得快， 而且要讀得更聰明些。