Day 271: On How to Use Books
第271天：关于如何使用书籍
Books... are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with ‘em, then we grow out of ‘em and leave ‘em behind, as evidence of our earlier stages of development.
书籍……就像龙虾壳一样，我们用它们把自己包裹起来，然后随着时间的推移，我们逐渐长大，不再需要它们，把它们留在身后，作为我们早期成长阶段的见证。
—Dorothy L. Sayers
When you’re new to the world of personal development, you read whatever you can grab your hands on. Every single classic, every book recommended to you by somebody you respect, every new bestselling release. At first, it’s a fine strategy: you get to expose yourself to different authors, learn the fundamentals, and look at personal development from different perspectives.
当你刚开始接触个人成长领域时，你会阅读手边能找到的任何书籍——每一本经典著作，每一个你尊重的人推荐给你的书籍，每一本最新的畅销书。
起初，这是一种不错的策略：你可以接触不同的作者，学习基础知识，从不同的角度看待个人成长。
However, as time passes, you should leave some books behind and progress to more specific advice. For example, I used to read one general self-help book after another. Soon I found them all similar to each other. Each new title added little to my knowledge. I outgrew those books, and needed to find a new teacher.
然而，随着时间的推移，你应该舍弃一些书籍，转而寻求更具体的建议。
例如，我曾经一本接一本地阅读自助类书籍。
很快我发现它们彼此之间非常相似。
每一本新书都没有给我带来太多新的知识。
我厌倦了那些书，需要寻找新的老师。
I transitioned to reading books about a more specific topic than general personal development: how to change myself to become a successful entrepreneur (and how to actually start and run a profitable company), how to improve my communication skills, how to eat healthily, or how to develop focus.
我开始阅读关于特定主题的书籍，而不是关于个人整体发展的泛泛之谈：比如如何改变自己——成为成功的企业家（以及如何真正开始并经营一家盈利的公司）、如何提高沟通技巧、如何健康饮食，或者如何培养专注力。
Then I started reading more biographies and autobiographies, where the lessons usually aren’t as clearly laid out as in a regular how-to book, but which are unique and more insightful, related to a specific problem the person portrayed in the biography had dealt with.
然后我开始阅读更多的传记和自传，这些书里的教训通常不像常规的「如何做」书籍那样明确列出来，但它们是独一无二的，而且更富有洞察力，与传记中所描述的人物所面对的具体问题有关。
Recently I started expanding my horizons and seeking out books about specific problems I struggle with (for example, how to develop a better life philosophy) and reading books from other domains, so I could draw parallels from them and apply their principles to my own life.
最近我开始拓宽自己的视野，寻找关于我所面临的具体问题的书籍（例如，如何培养更好的人生哲学），并阅读来自其他领域的书籍，以便从中汲取灵感并将其原则应用到自己的生活中。
Think of different categories of books as your development stages. When a given type of a book no longer serves you, find a new teacher.
把不同类型的书籍看作是自己成长的不同阶段。
当某一类型的书籍不再对我有帮助时，就寻找新的老师。
