"Cultivating with a Hundred Books: Reading Techniques to 'Become Free'"

2023/06/19

When it comes to books, you should just read whatever you like, however you like.

That is true. However, I also feel that it doesn't matter how many books on the theory of reading there are in the world. This is because reading about reading makes you want to read books. In fact, I have read many essays on reading and have been inspired by them. One of them is "On Reading" (Iwanami Shinsho) by Professor Shinzo Koizumi of our university.

At the request of my editor, I ended up publishing my own book on the theory of reading. If there is anything that sets it apart from similar books, it is that every chapter is structured in two parts: Side A and Side B. For example, Chapter 1 is "Side A: Speed Reading Techniques / Side B: Slow Reading Manners." There are books in the world that preach the benefits of speed reading. There are also books that emphasize the harmful effects of speed reading and recommend slow, intensive reading.

Which one is correct?

Both are correct, and both are wrong. In the first place, if you can't speed read, you probably won't be able to manage intensive reading either.

One more thing. This might be a feature, or perhaps a flaw, but throughout the book, there's a sense that I'm talking in my sleep. A young reader pointed out that because the author (me) is in a feverish state, it's "full of things to poke fun at."

Going through a list of classical literature from start to finish. Daring to read difficult books on philosophy, thought, mathematics, and other natural sciences. Tackling books in foreign languages (and several of them at that).

The tone in which I say these things is strained. The person writing it has a perfectly normal face while preaching incredibly radical things. It's crazy. It's laughable.

That's what they say.

Indeed. Reading it back, I was shocked myself. However, if asked whether I would rewrite it if given the chance for a new edition, I would have no choice but to say no.

In this busy age, why do we go out of our way to buy paper books and read them so tediously, instead of surfing the web, asking ChatGTP, or having a YouTube video explain it to us?

It is to be alone. It is to get used to solitude. Then, why is it necessary to get used to solitude? That is...

See, there it goes again. This is how the talking in my sleep starts.

"Cultivating with a Hundred Books: Reading Techniques to 'Become Free'"

Kotaro Kondo

CCC Media House

314 pages, 1,760 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations, titles, etc., are as of the time of publication.