Dry Stuffs, Wet Stuffs

By Mr.Ponder

A good reader is less likely to listen to lectures on book reading online, a fine financial manager is less likely to follow the so-called “investment masters’” words, and a wealthy man is even less likely to lust after luxuries.Now businesses often cater on those who aspire to be excellent but have not yet reached the expert’s level.

At present it seems quite popular to help people read online.In essence, it seems that there is someone to do every step of every process for you—someone even to taste the food, chew it, and spit it out for you to eat.Yet you still have to pay money and even praise: You’ve pick out the essence! That’s truly the “dry stuff” I want!

If you prefer to read “dry stuff,” the book Into the White Night, a 350,000-word epic, can be summarized in one sentence: A son killed his father.However, the original, or the so-called “wet stuff” edition details why the son should kill his father and each and every circumstance at great length.

Another famous story about “dry stuff” goes like this:

When a Persian king came to power, his courtiers were enlisted to compile a book about world history.A few years later, his courtiers had completed a masterpiece.Yet the king was middle-aged, preoccupied with the state affairs and had no time to read it.The courtiers then spent a few years shortening the book, but the king was still beset with politics and had no time to read it.The courtiers then condensed the history book once again, but the king was too old and frail to read it, which became something he regretted for the rest of his life.Finally, one talented historian extracted the essence of the book for the king before he passed away.The world history of six thousand volumes was minimized to three words: birth, sufferings, and death...It is true that the history of mankind is voluminous and complicated, and yet it is nothing but life, death, and suffering.

But what’s the fun of reading a condensed book? What’s the point of boiling down life like this? To know the answer to this, we must first have a good look at the age we are living in—an age when two things are destined to be very essential: to save time for others and to help them escape boredom.

There are many jobs that can save time for others, like helping them read books, queue up, fetch meals, and call cars, to name a few.You can also design and make all kinds of technological products, and essentially all these time savers.Surprisingly, there are many jobs that help people kill boredom, too.For example, the various live streaming.It stands to reason that playing games is very experienceoriented, but the most profitable thing in live streaming is to play games for audiences.Do you think that human beings are a little bored?

What’s more, a good circle of friends also helps people cast off boredom, and the essence of various entertainment mediums is to meet the needs of shaking off human boredom.

If you are engaged in these types of jobs, or start a business in this way, it seems to me that there is much to be done.Because human beings are so contradictory, the contradiction is that we try every means to save our time and then spend the time saved on all kinds of things to alleviate boredom.

We have extended many new thoughts on this topic.I’m not a supporter of absolute “dry stuffs” or absolute “wet stuffs.” Absolute “dry stuffs” are far from human nature, keeping people from appreciating the beauty and the direct experience; absolute “wet stuffs” are f lashy and surfaced.

There is a gap between the highest wisdom and the philistine cognitively.For example, Heidegger wrote his philosophical book in certain particular terms and verbalisms.If you are not professionally trained, it is bewildering to catch on hisExistence and Time.So a middleman is needed to explain his works.Furthermore, the middleman is vital because his knowledge and vision determine how much the audience can detect the meaning of a good work.

So it is better to read more experts’ interpretations rather than just believe in one authority blindly,which allows you to discern a book more objectively.When you are interested in a book, you’d better read the original version.Reading is a good way of enjoying wisdom because just by spending a few dollars you can communicate with the author on his life thoughts.When you haveThe Republic, Plato would sit in front of you; when you holdThus Spoke Zarathustra,Nietzsche would be chatting with you.

You should give yourself some time to read extensively, not merely to read the books recommended by others.There are many good books neglected or hidden on the bookshelf.Sometimes, I’d buy a book with an unattractive title from a roadside stall, feeling that I would benefit a lot from reading it because it f it me.More importantly, the socalled good books have different standards of judgment, which is related to everyone’s life experience and knowledge level.It’s not essential for a person who has just started a small business to read books on topics like equity investments, which, though, may be good books themselves, won’t be as helpful as those telling the reader how to avoid urban inspectors.That’s the way it is.

You should slow down yourself in your life such as dining with your family, staying with your sweethearts, seeing your favorite movies and enjoying a song...If you are efficiency-oriented in these things, it will make you impetuous and lose the pleasure of your life whereas in doing the boring things, you shall try to be self-disciplined and exercise restraint.

Do not care so much about the so-called “dry stuffs.” They just provide a window for you to take a quick glimpse of a domain of knowledge or a system.What you have to do is to make them sink into “wet stuffs” and add water to cook patiently, so that the knowledge can be well-developed and nutritious.

(FromSomeday You’ll Catch on, CITIC Publishing Group.Translation: Qing Run)

干貨 濕貨

文/琢磨先生

真正會讀書的人不太會上網聽音頻講書，真正會理財的人不會追隨所謂的投資大師，真正有錢的人不太在意自己買的是否為奢侈品……每個行當，都是為還沒到達“真正”這個層級的人服務。

幫人讀書這行業目前好像還挺時髦的，本質上不過是花錢找人把食物品嘗了一番，嚼了嚼吐出來給你吃。然后，你要付錢，還要連聲稱贊：干貨，干貨。

如果你這么喜歡干貨，那么35萬字的《白夜行》無非就是一句話：兒子把老子殺了。而所謂的濕貨版卻用洋洋灑灑35萬字來告訴你，這兒子為啥要殺老子。

有一個著名的關于干貨的故事：

相傳波斯王即位時，要他的臣子編一部完整的世界史。幾年過去了，臣子編出一部皇皇巨著。可國王已人到中年，國事繁雜，沒時間看。臣子又用幾年時間把史本縮短，但國王仍然忙于朝政，無暇細看。臣子再將史書高度濃縮，而國王終因年老體衰看不了，抱憾終生。臨死前，一位老史學家為他做了一個干貨解讀，六千卷的世界史其實是一句話：他們生了，受了苦，死了……人類歷史浩瀚紛繁，也只是三個字：生，死，苦。

可是，把書讀得那么濃縮有什么樂趣？你把生活理解成這樣子又有什么意思呢？

要了解這件事，我們先要讀懂今天這個時代。當下的時代，注定有兩件事情非常有前途：一件是幫人節省時間，另一件是幫人打發無聊。

幫人節省時間的職業很多，比如幫人讀書，幫人排隊，幫人取餐，幫人叫車……你可以做成各種科技產品，但本質上這些事情都是幫人節省了時間。與其不同，還有多種職業幫人打發無聊，比如各種直播。 按理說，打游戲是很注重體驗的吧，但直播里最賺錢的事情就是打游戲給你看，你說人類無聊不無聊？朋友圈也是幫人打發無聊，各種娛樂設計的本質也是滿足人類無聊的需求。你說人類無聊不無聊？

如果你能從事這兩類職業，或者就此針對性地創業，在我看來，簡直是大有可為。因為人類就是如此矛盾，這個矛盾就是：我們想盡各種辦法來讓自己節省時間，而后，把節省下來的時間用在各種無聊的事情上。

借助干貨和濕貨這事兒，我們延展出很多思考。絕對的干貨和絕對的濕貨我都不認同：絕對的干貨，讓人遠離了人性，失去了欣賞和最直接的體驗；絕對的濕貨，又華而不實。

在最高級的智慧和普羅庸俗的人之間，存在著一個認知鴻溝。比如海德格爾自創出一門語言體系來寫哲學，如果你不是科班出身，很難讀懂他的《存在與時間》，這就需要有人在中間起嫁接的作用。但是，這個嫁接的人非常重要，因為他的知識邊界和視野決定了聽眾能達到什么樣的理解層次。

所以，盡量多聽一些人的解讀，不要只迷信一個人。這種交叉性可以讓你更客觀地理解一本書。對某一本書非常感興趣時，最好能讀一讀原著。讀書是享受智慧最方便的事情了，花幾十塊錢就可以跟作者一生的思考做交流。你買了《理想國》，柏拉圖就坐在了你面前；你買了《查拉圖斯特拉如是說》，尼采就在你旁邊嘮嗑兒。

給自己一點時間去隨性閱讀，不要只讀別人推薦的書，因為被埋沒的好書也不少。有時候，我在路邊攤買本書名特惡俗的書，讀起來因為契合了我的感受，也覺得受益匪淺。更重要的是，所謂的好書判斷標準不一，這跟每個人的生活經驗和知識層次有關。就像一個剛開始做點小本買賣的人讀股權投資之類的書沒有必要，這方面的書可能很好，但還不如讀讀如何躲避城管之類的書。道理就是如此。

不要讓自己在寶貴的事情上講求效率，比如跟家人吃飯、跟愛人培養感情，比如看自己心愛的電影，閉著眼睛欣賞一首歌曲……在這些事情上追求效率，會讓你變得浮躁，也讓你失去作為一個人的樂趣。而在無聊的事情上，盡量自律，不是不做，而是保持克制。

不要那么在乎干貨，所謂的干貨其實不過是提供了窗口，讓你快速窺見一門學問或者一個體系。而自己要做的就是，讓它們沉下去變成濕貨，加上水有耐心地去煲，讓這些知識豐滿起來，這樣才營養豐富。

（摘自《終有一天你會懂》中信出版集團）