Teacher Cheng Jia, the storyteller and author of "Study Well", once shared a reading method of "preparation, research and judgment".
The so-called "preparation, research and judgment" reading method is actually a method of dividing reading into four steps.
Break the topic
When we get a book, we must first solve the problem, that is, understand what the whole book is about.
Before reading, many people actually only know the title of the book, but have no idea what the main content of the book is about. In this way, when we read, it is like crossing a river by feeling for stones, with no direction at all. However, if we can use 5 minutes to grasp the core of the book, we can greatly improve learning efficiency.
How to do it specifically?
In fact, the method is very simple. We only need to carefully study the four parts, namely the cover, table of contents, preface, and ending.
Generally speaking, the author and the publisher will sort out the key issues of the book in the cover and preface. Reading this part can give you a better understanding of the content of the book. The table of contents is the ideological context of the whole book. After you have a general understanding of the core issues of the book, by carefully reading the table of contents, you can quickly grasp the author's ideological context, and thus have a comprehensive explanation of how the author analyzes this issue.
The same is true for the ending. Many authors have the habit of resummarizing at the end, and usually repeatedly emphasize the issues they are most concerned about. When we read the postscript or the ending, we can once again understand the author. What is the issue that concerns you most. After reading these four parts, you will have a general understanding of the content of the book, and we have completed the problem solving.
Preparing questions
After we understand the theme of the book, can we start reading? No, before we read, we should spend ten minutes thinking about a question. That is, if we encounter this problem, how will we solve it?
For example, in the book "How to Read a Book Effectively", the author proposes the method of taking notes to read.
Then what you have to do at this time is not to rush to see how the author takes notes. Instead, you should think about the following questions:
Am I taking reading notes?
If so, how did I take reading notes?
What experiences do you have and what doubts do you have?
If not, why don’t I take reading notes?
After you have a general idea about taking reading notes, we will complete the second step - preparing questions
Research
After we have our own ideas, let's look through the table of contents. At this time, you will find that there are many contents that you may have already understood before, but you don't actually need to read them anymore. The only ones that really need you to spend time researching are A small part of it, and this part is what we need to spend time studying.
In fact, everyone has their own habits regarding specific research methods. However, from my experience, the most important thing is to think repeatedly about how I can use this method to improve my current problem.
Judgment
After we have completed the first few steps, we have a full understanding of the core issues of the book and its connection with our own lives. But our reading work is not complete yet, and we still need the last step - judgment. The so-called judgment is to think about whether the method in the book is really suitable for us? What are its benefits? What are the disadvantages? Make a simple evaluation.
After completing these four steps, we will have a relatively comprehensive and in-depth understanding of a book.
This reading method is very suitable for us to study some practical books, but it may not be so suitable for some literary or fictional books. And please note that completing these four steps only gives you a basic understanding of the book, but it does not mean that you will stop reading it in the future.
When we encounter similar problems in the future, we need to dig out the book, think again, and see if there are new ideas. Only in this way can reading be continuously improved.