今年的任務(wù)是30本。時(shí)值八月，閱讀量未完成一半，惶惶不安。
從一月至今的已讀書單及評(píng)分。（五分制）
1. 圍城 （錢鐘書）- 4分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)： 三十多歲才看圍城，發(fā)現(xiàn)講的根本不是婚姻。方鴻漸這種人，和那個(gè)時(shí)代的中國(guó)，無戰(zhàn)事的2016，依然舉目皆是，遠(yuǎn)望不到邊。那種赤裸粗暴的習(xí)慣互撕，容不下丁點(diǎn)真善的迫不及待的呲牙咧嘴，對(duì)人際人生低智商低情商經(jīng)營(yíng)方式的根本性失敗，惶惶然似曾相識(shí)。心有余悸。
2. 我們仨 （楊絳）- 3分
3. They Are What You Feed Them (Alex Richardson) - 5 分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)：This book led me and my family out of the dark ignorance on nutrition and health. It's revolutionising our family diet and life style. Would recommend it to anyone, with or without children.
4.? Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout) - 3 分
5. Highly Sensitive Person : How to Thrive When The World Overwhelms You (Elaine N. Aron) - 3 分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)： Not everything applied but it helped to be validated and supported in a practical sense.
6. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Rachel Joyce) - 4分
7. Life and Death in Shanghai (Nien Chang) - 5分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)：Amazing read! It feels good to be led out of the dark and to know the nitty gritty of it all. I used to ask questions regarding this particular era of China but was always met with a casual dismissive attitude. Mum used to say life was hard for everyone but that was it. That's the real fun in reading : one book later, you are in the know!
The author was a remarkable lady. I'm greatly humbled by her unyielding spirit, her intelligence and sensitivity in handling the subtleties in human contacts, and her overall optimism towards life. The story is told in such a matter of fact way with little trace of bitterness, though she must have felt it in herself. She was one of a kind.
8. Bad Science (Ben Goldacre) - 5分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)：There are books that bring such scrumptious pleasure, and books that change the way you think and perceive, for good. For me, pleasure is all well and good but it does fade and vanish as memory of details fail over time. But an idea, a philosophical way of perceiving life around you, stays, especially when it's new and comes as a challenge to one's old belief.
This book is one of the latter. I'm glad I read it. I'm glad that someone confirmed my long-time suspicion of all those readily available 'research findings'? that are based on seriously flawed evidence, in a systematic way. I'm glad someone has the guts and patience to lay out all those appalling tricks used in the big pharm trade to the general public so that we are in the know. I'm glad someone is finally pointing fingers at the media for the shameful ways they are misleading our culture and dumbing down the national intelligence.
I'm forever grateful for this book, and the author.
9. 洗澡 （楊絳）- 3分
10. 洗澡之后 （楊絳）- 3分
11. 彷徨 （魯迅） - 4分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)：在一個(gè)對(duì)的年紀(jì)重讀這個(gè)人。放下一切解讀的聲音，辟除所有迷信和崇拜。魯迅是個(gè)灰色的人，故事有好也有不夠好。有不少讀來像斷篇，沒有結(jié)尾，嘎然而止。并不覺得是刻意而為，并不認(rèn)為達(dá)到了什么深度戲劇效果。但難忘“傷逝”和子君。不論涓生是不是魯迅，我只知道好的故事只能從本身而生。還是喜歡他的字，讀的下去，可以沉靜。
12. 吶喊 （魯迅）- 3分
13. You Are Not So Smart ( David McRaney) - 2 分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)： 1. I think one should be very careful before writing a book and giving it a name such as this one, unless you are pretty darn sure that everyone who might possibly buy your book will fall into all or at least most of the descriptions of "you". An author of books with names like this one obviously poses themselves as superior to the masses so they'd better prove that is the case with what they present in their book - content and delivery. Failing that, they will have to face the possible outcome of looking like a shallow , desperate, attention-seeking fool.
Does everyone fall into the his descriptions of the ignorant you ? Well I'm not sure. "Indeed, it is more likely that a professor of history will know why the Roman Empire fell and what can be learned from it... If the professor tells you how much he or she wishes the Spice Girls would reunite and play on campus, you would be committing logical fallacy if you decided you should maybe rethink your musical taste." Seriously?! Who does that? Are we all 11 years old now? What percentage of the adult population really blindly takes on everything an authority figure claims, regardless of the subject? Well I don't. And I don't consider myself smart because of that. That surely is just common sense most of us posses?
It goes on like this. Many misconceptions McRaney accuses the readers of are so irrelevant and inapplicable to me, that i think it is fair to say that this guy really didn't think his stuff through before he made it public. Is he really that smart? If not, what gives him the right to condescend his readers in such a manner? I've read and recognised humour in scientific books before, if that is humour he is attempting, well I'm lost for appropriate words.
I'm just gonna say it: I think it was pretty unwise of him to give the book this name. It paints him in a very bad light. Tune it down, and come off that high horse of his, this can be an all right compilation of pop psychology blog entries.
2. His delivery throughout the book has the same unpleasant taste.? He keeps repeating "you are not so smart". Is it necessary? What goal is he trying to achieve other than antagonising readers and securing an imaginary intellectual gap between himself and us? He keeps on about "your ancestors", but I assume that'll be his ancestors too? It looks like simple lack of sophistication and poor writing skills to me. It really does not hurt to pull the readers to your side every now and then, even if you believe you are much better than us lot. Not to mention that latter point may be very questionable.
3. The ideas he presents need serious scientific back up and detailed explanations on research methodology. There's none of those. He claims all his ideas to be the truth, but are they? Where did he get his truth from, given the fact that he doesn't appear to own any qualifications or professional experience in the field of science? Even if he did, do psychologists claim their research findings to be the absolute truth these days now? I thought science was a subject where new findings are constantly replacing old ones thus no real expert in the world of science shall claim what they know to be THE TRUTH ?
My speculation is that he reads a lot on psychology as he is a self-described psychology nerd. But forgive me for being fussy, some of us may not be happy with just words like "research has shown". There are all sorts of researches done, were they controlled and double blinded? What scale of research are we talking about here? What is the number of subjects involved? These factors greatly affect the value of the final findings.
Some people may say that I'm being awkward here - this is only meant to be a quick pop psychology read. But it's a book after all. This is no blogging. You are educating the masses. You have a responsibility to do it right. And it's important that the mass learn to think critically, especially considering this is a book about thinking. Surely among the 48 entries of misconceptions that repeat itself all too often, the author can afford to cut off the numbers of entries and spend a bit more time digging each one deeper ?
I think I'm gonna stop at page 157 as I realised I am reading everything he says with this thick glaze of doubt now. Words jump and float and make no sense to me. I may or may not return to this one.
If you want a good version of this sort of books (the ones that correct your misconceptions of things in the field of science), I recommend "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre.
14. Between The World and Me (Ta Nehisi Coates) - 3分
簡(jiǎn)評(píng)：Beautifully written; powerful message. But do I take it? all? Power can be dangerous, pointing two ways. I had next to zero knowledge or experience with America or it's race issue before the read, and now I feel the segregation and hatred as of my own. And I'm yellow, living in England. Is this good? If so, for what and whom?
I did realise that he wasn't just talking about America and black people. Once he moved on to his Paris experience, I was aware that his anger and hatred point to the origin and process of the entire human civilisation. This dark depressing emotion of his shadows over humanity in its entirety. There's always cities built upon bodies. There is no escape. There is always struggle, as there is always us against them.
Now, I'll have to agree, that there really won't be any escape, on our own, with no love, no God, no Grace. It'll continue to be this way, into eternity.
