Reading Diary 1st
We are now living in the age of “information explosion”. What lessons can we learn from Bacon’s “Of Studies” in our access to information?
Today, we learned Francis Bacon’s “Of Studies” in English. Actually, we have learned this text in Chinese when we were at middle school. In addition, the edition is the most classical one from the famous translator in the 1930s or 1940s. By coincidence, I bought Bacon’ Essay in the simplified edition in Chinese in order to meet the demand when in my senior middle school. Therefore, I have read more than “Of Studies”. The translated edition is easy to understand and his arguments are really reasonable.
Speaking to Bacon’s Of Studies, there is a well-known quotation that “ Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested”. In this 21 century, information has already flooded our eyes and ears through all kinds of mess media, which makes us confused. Nowadays, reading papers or books are not the only way for us to get information. Computer, television, mobile phone, radio together make us dazzle.
From my point of view, books are still the irreplaceable one because books have good ideas and truths, while television is mainly used to get entertained and just have a relax. The most important is that reading books has the exclusiveness for that we can only read books quietly and think independently and then our own thoughts are formed. However,
other media, like television and radio, can be watched or listened by a group of people laughing and eating. This is about the specialty between books and other media.
As to the types of books, I suppose to distinguish the classical one from the one just for entertainment. We may read humor and joke when tried and stressed, but not to read again and again. On the contrary, some famous books like The Analects of Confucius, are ought to be read and recite in that most of its thoughts are still popular today and we need them to establish a more harmonious society. So to say, Good books are the treasures that our ancestors leave to us. This is also why good books are enduring despite the time.