喬里·麥凱 李蘋
A random sampling of the worlds most successful people will show one common trait: a love of reading. Reading is the easiest way to continue the learning process, increase empathy, boost creativity, and even just unwind from a long day. But books can also change the way we think and live.
So theres the why of reading, but what about the how? Too often we get through a book, flip the last page, sit back, and think, “What the hell did I just read?” Reading and being able to use what youve read are completely different things.
Understanding how to get the most out of your time reading starts with understanding why we remember things at all, and then figuring out the best way to use that information.
The basics of memory
Without purpose and intention, the ideas sparked while reading easily slip away. Learning to hold onto them means understanding how our memory works. For the purposes of reading retention, we can think of our memory as being basically made up of three components: Impression. Association. Repetition.
Read to be impressed (and to impress others)
When youre impressed by something, theres a much higher probability that youll remember it. This could mean a phrase or quote that catches you off guard or changes the way you think about a certain topic. Or an interesting fact that youll want to teach someone later on.
Just like a teacher is able to master a subject because they know theyll be teaching it later on, attacking a book with the same level of purpose means youll be able to recall information a lot quicker.
Having a clear question in mind or a topic youre focusing on can make all the difference in helping you to remember and recall information. While this can be as easy as defining a subject to look into beforehand, if time is no object heres how to effectively “hack” your brain into being impressed with the subject matter:
Before reading
Ruin the ending. Read reviews and summaries of the work. Youre trying to learn why something happened, so the what is secondary. Frame your reading with knowledge around the subject and perspective of whats being said and how it relates to the larger topic.
During reading
As you read, have a specific purpose in mind and stick to it. Dont let your mind be the river that sweeps your thoughts away as you read. Be a ruthless notetaker. Your librarian might kill you for this, but using a technique such as marginalia (writing notes in the margin and marking up key patterns for follow-ups), will make you a more active reader and help lock information in your memory.
After reading
Engage with the material. Write a summary or analysis of the main ideas you want to recall or use, research supporting topics and ideas noting how they connect with what youve read, and then present, discuss, or write about your final ideas.
Make associations with what you already know
Association is a peg upon which you hang a new idea, fact, or figure. When you know where the peg is located, its a lot easier to find what youve hung upon it. As you read and come across new ideas and thoughts, youll want to connect and associate these with familiar memories as a means of creating a bond between old and new. There are many different ways to create associations in your mind, from pairing new thoughts with familiar objects, to creating acronyms.
Repeat, revisit, and re-engage
The final factor influencing our memory, and the one that is most important for long-term memorization, is repetition. Without revisiting or re-engaging with the material that youve read, theres a pretty low chance youll be able to remember and apply any of that knowledge in the real world.
This doesnt necessarily mean you need to read through the book multiple times (although that does help). But rather, that you need to have a method for taking and organizing notes around the key parts you want to revisit later on.
How the smartest people read
Reading with intention is the sum of all of the parts of memory—it means that you have a specific goal at hand (impression), that you want to connect what youre reading to other information (association), and that it is something youre invested in and will come back to again and again (repetition).
Heres how some of the most well-read and successful people organize their thoughts and get the most out of reading:
Ryan Holiday: author and marketer
Ryan uses a method he picked up from his mentor Robert Greene.
Heres the rundown:
While reading, write detailed notes in the margins and then fold the bottom corner of any page youve written on.
After a week or two, come back to the book and transcribe the notes youre still impressed by onto 4×6 cards.
Each card gets a category or theme in the top righthand corner (or you can use color-coded cards).
Organize the cards by category (or by chapter if youre working on a book project). This way you can move them around as you please and connect random ideas (the basis of creativity).
Maria Popova: author and founder of Brainpickings.org
Maria relies on making her own indexes of books in order to quickly scan whats inside and connect it to what shes writing. Heres how it works:
While reading, highlight any passages or quotes you find interesting (making notes in the margin).
In the back (or front) of the book, create an index listing each page youve highlighted and what category the note should be under (This could be “C” for creativity, or even the title of your latest project).
Austin Kleon: artist, author
Artist and author Austin Kleon leverages the fact that our brains respond better to visual information by taking notes in a mind map fashion. Heres how he explains it:
“Im trying to construct a 2-D memory palace on paper. By making notes in a non-linear manner, by arranging images and words in space, I can see connections that would otherwise be impossible with just words written in sequence.”
Josh Kaufman: bestselling author of The Personal MBA
While not as intricate or as interesting as some of the other methods, Joshs method named “The McDowell Grid” is an excellent way to connect new thoughts with your own opinions and ideas. Heres how The McDowell Grid works:
Create a simple two-column grid.
On one side, write the fact, thought, or quote you are impressed by.
On the other side, write your own personal reaction and thought.
Thats it! This way, when you revisit your reading notes later on, youll be able to put yourself back into the same frame of mind you were in when you originally read.
Reading is one of the great joys of life. And while it is an incredible way to unwind from the busyness of our day-to-day lives, reading with intention allows us to increase our skills and learn from the lives of others.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ■
對(duì)世界上最成功的人進(jìn)行隨機(jī)抽樣,你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)他們有一個(gè)共同的特點(diǎn):熱愛閱讀。閱讀是一種最簡(jiǎn)單的方法,能讓人持續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)、增強(qiáng)同理心、激發(fā)創(chuàng)造力,甚至是從漫長(zhǎng)的一天中放松下來。不過,書籍也可以改變我們思考和生活的方式。
這是閱讀的原因,可如何閱讀呢?我們常常讀完一本書,翻過最后一頁,舒舒服服地坐好,心想:“我剛才到底讀了些什么?”閱讀和能運(yùn)用所讀的知識(shí)完全是兩碼事。
要想了解如何從閱讀時(shí)間中獲得最大收獲,首先要了解我們究竟為何能記憶并找到利用這一點(diǎn)的最佳方式。
記憶的基本要素
沒有目的和意圖,閱讀時(shí)激發(fā)出的想法很容易溜走。學(xué)會(huì)抓住這些想法就要理解記憶的運(yùn)作方式。以閱讀記憶為目的,我們可以認(rèn)為記憶基本由三部分組成:印象、聯(lián)系、重復(fù)。
給自己(及別人)留下印象
當(dāng)你對(duì)某件事印象深刻時(shí),記住這件事的機(jī)率會(huì)高很多。這可能是一個(gè)短語或引語,或令你意想不到,或改變你思考某個(gè)話題的方式;也可能是某個(gè)有趣的知識(shí),讓你想以后分享給別人。
就像老師之所以能夠精通一門課程,是因?yàn)樗麄冎雷约阂院髸?huì)教這門課一樣,用同等目的來攻讀一本書,回憶起信息的速度會(huì)快很多。
頭腦中有清晰的問題或?qū)W⒂谝粋€(gè)話題對(duì)幫助記憶和回憶信息十分重要。雖然這和事先確定研究主題一樣簡(jiǎn)單,但如果時(shí)間充裕的話,以下方法能幫助你有效“侵入”大腦,加深對(duì)主題的印象:
閱讀前
劇透結(jié)局。閱讀這本書的評(píng)論和概要。你要弄清的是事情發(fā)生的原因,所以事情本身是次要的。利用相關(guān)背景知識(shí)、書中內(nèi)容的視角及其與更大主題的聯(lián)系,來構(gòu)建你的閱讀框架。
閱讀中
閱讀時(shí),心中要有一個(gè)明確的目標(biāo)并堅(jiān)持下去。不要讓心思像河流一樣任意流淌,沖走了你的想法。要勤于記筆記。這可能會(huì)讓圖書管理員痛恨,但是使用一種技巧,如旁注(在頁邊空白處記筆記,畫上標(biāo)記符號(hào)便于后續(xù)跟進(jìn)),會(huì)使你成為一個(gè)更積極的讀者,并幫助你牢牢記住信息。
閱讀后
深入研究材料。對(duì)于想要回憶或運(yùn)用的主要觀點(diǎn),寫下總結(jié)或分析,研究相關(guān)論題、論點(diǎn),留意它們與閱讀內(nèi)容之間的聯(lián)系,然后向別人介紹、與人討論或?qū)懴伦约旱淖罱K想法。
與已有知識(shí)建立聯(lián)系
聯(lián)系像放置新想法、事實(shí)或數(shù)字的掛鉤。知道掛鉤的位置,找到掛在上面的東西就會(huì)輕松得多。閱讀中讀到新觀點(diǎn)和想法時(shí),你會(huì)希望將其和熟悉的記憶聯(lián)系起來,從而在新舊之間建立聯(lián)系。在腦海中建立聯(lián)系有很多方式,比如將新想法與熟悉的物體配對(duì),或創(chuàng)建首字母縮略詞。
重復(fù)、重讀和重新研究
影響記憶的最后一個(gè)因素,也是影響長(zhǎng)期記憶最重要的因素,就是重復(fù)。如果不重讀或者不重新研究讀過的材料,記住并在實(shí)際中運(yùn)用這些知識(shí)的機(jī)率非常低。
這并不一定要求你把書本通讀好幾遍(盡管這確實(shí)有幫助),而是說,對(duì)于那些你之后想重讀的關(guān)鍵內(nèi)容,你需要用方法去記錄并整理筆記。
最聰明的人如何閱讀
帶意圖閱讀是記憶三要素的集中表現(xiàn),就是說,你眼前有明確的目標(biāo)(印象),想將閱讀的內(nèi)容與其他信息相關(guān)聯(lián)(聯(lián)系),而且你會(huì)一次又一次投入精力閱讀(重復(fù))。
下面是一些最博學(xué)、最成功的人組織思想并從閱讀中獲得最大收獲的方法:
瑞安·霍利迪——作家、營(yíng)銷商
瑞安使用的方法是從他的導(dǎo)師羅伯特·格林那里學(xué)來的。
以下是方法介紹:
閱讀時(shí),在書頁空白處寫下詳細(xì)筆記,然后把記有筆記的書頁底角都折起來。
一兩個(gè)星期后,重新翻閱,將仍有印象的筆記抄寫在4×6英寸大小的卡片上。
每張卡片的右上角都標(biāo)明分類或主題(或者也可以使用貼有不同色標(biāo)的卡片)。
將卡片分類整理(如果正在寫書,可以按章節(jié)整理)。這樣就可以隨意移動(dòng)卡片,并將隨機(jī)的想法聯(lián)系起來(這是創(chuàng)造力的基礎(chǔ))。
瑪麗亞·波波娃——作家、Brainpickings.org網(wǎng)站創(chuàng)始人
瑪麗亞自己創(chuàng)建書籍索引來快速瀏覽書中內(nèi)容,并將其與自己的寫作內(nèi)容相聯(lián)系。以下是她的方法:
閱讀時(shí),標(biāo)記有趣的段落或引語(在書頁空白處做筆記)。
在書的背面(或正面)建一個(gè)索引,列出有標(biāo)記的所有頁面,并對(duì)筆記進(jìn)行分類(可以用C表示創(chuàng)造力,甚至可以用新書的標(biāo)題)。
奧斯汀·克利昂——藝術(shù)家、作家
藝術(shù)家兼作家奧斯汀·克利昂用思維導(dǎo)圖的方式記筆記,因?yàn)榇竽X對(duì)視覺信息反應(yīng)更敏銳。以下是他的解釋:
“我試圖在紙上構(gòu)建一個(gè)二維記憶宮殿。以非線性的方式記筆記,在空間排列圖像和文字,由此我可以看到僅用文字按序記錄而無法呈現(xiàn)的聯(lián)系?!?/p>
喬希·考夫曼——暢銷書《在家就能讀MBA》的作者
喬希的方法雖然不像其他方法那樣復(fù)雜、有趣,但他的“麥克道爾網(wǎng)格”是個(gè)好方法,能將新想法與你自己的觀點(diǎn)和構(gòu)思聯(lián)系起來。麥克道爾網(wǎng)格的方法如下:
創(chuàng)建一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的兩列網(wǎng)格。
一列寫下印象深刻的事實(shí)、觀點(diǎn)或引語。
另一列寫下自己的反應(yīng)和想法。
就是這樣!這個(gè)方法能讓你之后翻閱讀書筆記時(shí),回歸到初次閱讀時(shí)的心境。
閱讀是生活的一大樂趣。閱讀能讓我們從日常生活的忙碌中放松下來,而帶意圖閱讀能使我們提高技能,借鑒他人的生活。 ? ? □
(譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>