How to Pick Which books to read (如何选择适合你的书)(二)

What is the Hierarchy?

什么是书的层级?
The exact books in each layer of the hierarchy is going to differ, depending on the topic and background of the person rading it.
根据书的主题和读书人的背景不同，金字塔每一层的具体书目也不同。

My rough guide, however, inorder from easiest to hardest, would be:
但从最简单到最困难，我给出的粗略的指南会是如下这样:

Popular beginner books.These books assume no prior knowledge and are maximally lucid and entertaining.They are probably full of hidden assumptions and flaws, but they comminicate their essential ida well.These may be written by an expert, but they are also sometimes written by people known for communicating well rather than being especially knowledgeable about a topic.(e.g. Most self-help books, mass media coverage of a topic, etc.)
Specialist books, written for a mass audience.These books likely assume general background knowledge, but no knowledge of the subject the author is going to introduce.These are usually written by experts, or with the help of experts.(e.g. journalist-expert-combo bestsellers, mass market “idea” books, etc.)
2.写给大众的专业书。 这类书假设读者具备一般的背景知识，但对作者将要介绍的主题不了解。通常是由专家写就的，或在专家的帮助下完成。(例如，记者和专家联袂撰写的畅销书，针对大众市场的“创意"书等)

Specialist books, written for specialists. These aren’t meant for mass consumption.You need to understand the field and have signficant background knowledge to make sense of them.Yet, the discussions are aimed at nuance since that shared background means you can get straight at the important unresolved questions rather than get everyone else caught up first.(e.g. academic monographs, review papers, textbooks, etc.)
3.写给专业人士的专业书。 这类书不是为广大消费者准备的。你需要对这个领域有了解，并具备大量背景知识才能看懂。书中的讨论目的在于揭示问题的精微之处。 读者和作者有相同的背景知识，意味着你可以直接进入未解决的重要问题而不需要在其他内容上纠缠。(例如，学术专著评论文章、教科书等)

Primary research, journal articles, expert commentary.This is the final level.Now, not only do you need to have considerable backgroud knowledge to understand the discussion, you often need to be sufficiently engaged in the community discussing it to know what facts, theory and ideas are even being referenced.(e.g. individual journal articles, blog articles aimed at other academics/theories, etc.)
4.原创研究、期刊文章、专业评论。这是最后一层。至此，你不仅需要大量背景知识以理解作者的讨论，通常还需要充分参与到那个圈子的讨论中，从而知道作者引用了哪些事实、理论和观点。(例如，单独的期刊文章、针对其他学者或理论家的博客文章等)

There’s no shame in starting lower in the hierarchy.Those books are probably going to be the most useful to you and serve as a good stepping stone to later books.
一开始从较低层级的书入门并不丢人。那些书可能对你最有用，并成为你继续阅读其他书的跳板

Unlearning false, simplistic ideas from earlier layers is always going to be present.Ideally, the best books from the earlier layers require the least unlearning, but sometimes a book which is super compelling(and thus easy/fun to read) may be worth some extra unlearning later if it encourages you to read more about the topic at all.
需要纠正之前读到的错误、简单化观点的现象总会出现。理想状态下，前面几层最好的书，是在读到更高层级时需要纠正最少错误内容的书。但有时候如果一本超级有吸引力的书(因此读起来很容易/有趣) 能够鼓励你在这个主题下阅读更多内容的话，即使之后需要纠正的错误多一些，也是值得的。

There are, of course, books at a lower level which are so profoundly false and misleading that you’re better off having read nothing at all.These should be avoided, although it’s often hard to know which are which until you get further up.(Expert reviews can help, but as has been mentioned, those higher up on the hierachy often have a harder time separating a flawed-but-acceptable starting point with one which is unacceptably inaccurate)
当然，有一些低层级的书错误和误导得过于离谱，甚至还不如什么都不读。这些书是应该避免的，虽然在你的水平更进一步之前很难判断哪本书该读、哪本书不该读。(专业人士的评论会有帮助，但正如上文提到的，处于更高水平的人有时很难区分一本书是存在瑕疵但作为入门读物仍可接受，还是完全不可接受的漏洞百出)

Most importantly, however, it is to expect that anything you learned at the lower level might get replaced/adjusted at a higher level as you learn more.If you go into any learning activity with the expectation that knowledge is tentative, then you’ll be better equipped to deal with the changes which occur when you get to a higher level.
但更重要的是要有心理预期，当你学了更多、达到更高层级后，可能会更新或调整在较低层级时所学的内容。如果你开始任何学习活动时都带着这样的预期，即知识只是暂时的，那么当你达到一个更高层级时，就更有准备去应对知识的变化。

As books get higher up the hierarchy, perspectives and theories multiply, and it also becomes harder and harder to say what the “right” viewpoint is .Things which seemed straightforward at the first level become unexcpetedly contentious once you dig into deeper books.
书的层级越高，思考问题的视角和理论大大增加，也就越来越难说什么是“正确"的观点。一旦你深入钻研更艰深的书，在第一层时看上去简单直接的东西，就出人意料地变得有争议了。

Which Books Should You Read?
你应该阅读哪本书?

I hope, by now, you can see that this question is misguided.It’s wrong because there often is no “best” book, but many different ones, depending on where you are in the hierarachy.
到这里，我希望你可以明白这个问题是有误导性的，因为通常不存在“最好"的书，而是根据你所处的层级，有许多不同的书。

It’s also wrong because the correct approach isn’t to read the “best” books, but to read a lot of books.The weaknesses that result from reading bad books are overwhelmingly corrected by reading lots of them.
这个问题的错误还在于，正确的方式不是阅读“最好" 的书，而是阅读大量的书。 读糟糕的书所造成的后果完全可以被阅读大量的好书所纠正。

Instead of asking which books you should read, therefore, you should just start buying and reading lots of books.Most won’t be lifechanging.But occasionally you’ll read enough to push up the hierarchy and, when you look down, you’ll see how much you’ve learned.
因此，不要问你应该读什么书，而是应该直接开始购买并阅读大量的书。大部分书都不会改变你的生活，但偶尔，你会因为读了足够多的书而推动你达到更高层次。当你向下看的时候，就会发现自己已经学到了那么多。