I always think reading is a pleasure, not as complicated as Tang Nuo said. His reading story scares me, so I'm going to sing the opposite.
No one will interpret Gulliver's Travels in strict accordance with biology and physics like Gould: for example, people in Lilliput can only wear one suit for life, because their bodies are too small, and the adhesion generated by clothes will prevent them from taking off. Reading in this way is as boring as the ancients tampering with Du Mu's poem Qingming.
Tang Nuo regards it as the "destruction or liberation of classification" of books, but it has nothing to do with "human nature always has the desire to seek order, but at the same time it is impatient and uncomfortable with order, and also wants to break free and surpass it". Benjamin's study is a high-quality pasture with books like wild cattle and sheep. Like Tang Nuo, I like to reach for books. But if the study is too messy, I'd rather lie on the book and sleep.
On the other hand, must the family study be as strict and orderly as the library? Why do you have to learn so much bibliography? Tang Nuo doesn't blindly advocate these two extreme ways, but he actually makes a mountain out of a molehill, as is the case throughout the book. "Making a mountain out of a molehill can sometimes be very, very interesting. Some touching discoveries of human beings are often made out of a mountain of nervousness. " Tang Nuo and I are at war, and after studying it, we think it is "making a mountain out of a molehill". Like first love, everyone's first book is doomed, but is the next book "hidden in the book you are reading at the moment"? Unless you read systematically, read along the "tree reading path".
Tang Nuo's "strong suggestion that we should read the same writer completely" is a bit overwhelming. He admits that in the eyes of readers, Salinger only has The Catcher in the Rye, and Nabokov only has the phenomenon of "a book" in Lolita. This is definitely not true. But it is often true that readers have only read one book by one writer in their life. Take me for example. I have read most of Lu Xun's works, but only Gu Long and Jin Yong, two people who are not recognized as literature, have read them all. Moreover, it is not easy to reach the standard that "standard amateur reading is the best and good books are few". The so-called "second-rate books and failure books" only vary from person to person. Recognized as Hemingway's failed work Crossing the River into the Woods, Marquez thinks it is his best work. Tang Nuo thinks it's time for Taiwan Province Province to read more "second-rate good books", so that the society can cope with disasters calmly and stop being a "soaked society". Tang Nuo's optimism and expectation of reading achievement really has a scholar's loveliness.
What is the ultimate goal of reading? "Even a mind like Borges is chaotic." I think this is similar to Einstein's dream of unity, or old Tolstoy's dream of giving all the answers to life with a resurrection. I think it's futile to make mistakes. Tang Nuo concluded that books provide us with "an ocean of meaning, a world full of infinite possibilities". Yes, books are often like platform 9 3/4 of King's Cross Station. "The more readers are attracted by the better world in the book and the farther away from the world in front of them, the easier it is to see the world in front of them." With Tang Nuo's keen sense of reading, he should add that reading is like a bridge between two worlds, not a station that keeps readers drifting away.
As for the beginning of Calvino's "If it is a winter night, a traveler", we can completely skip the part that advises readers to prepare for reading mentality and posture. Nothing is more leisure than reading. You can even read in the bathtub. Don't be as serious as Tang Nuo, remember the adage that "two rabbits don't make a rabbit". You can't smoke or go to the toilet while reading. God, if this rule is made, half the scholars in the world will have to escape, right? People often sigh that "there is no time to study" and "I can't read any more". In my opinion, this is a false question. Have you ever met chess fans who complain that they have no time to play chess and fans who can't play football? I really can't understand Critique of Pure Reason. How about the new agatha christie?
You don't need to learn by rote, nor do you want to get a diploma. A book that suits you will be remembered unconsciously, just as Tang Nuo read Marquez's General in the Labyrinth. He did not accept magdalena river's real defeat, but only remembered the "brilliant defeat" described in the book. Here I totally agree with Borges quoted by Tang Nuo: "I always reread more than read extensively, and rereading a book is more important than reading many books extensively."