The Underlying Logic of Reading and the Art of Book Selection: Thoughts After Reading Fan Deng's "No Regrets After Reading"

I recently finished reading Fan Deng's No Regrets After Reading (已讀不悔). Reading it while reflecting on my own reading experiences over the years, I found many of his insights deeply relatable. In fact, just by looking at the length and structure of the chapters during a quick skim, one can more or less gauge the substance of a work.

This reminds me of when I read Yuval Noah Harari's Homo Deus. It was a truly solid and comprehensive work. To explore the future of humanity, the author laid out extremely long chapters and a highly rigorous chain of argumentation spanning history, biology, and evolutionary psychology. Although such monumental works are heavy, the sense of fulfillment after reading them is irreplaceable.

Reflecting on the inspiration this book gave me, alongside my own reading philosophy, I've summarized four key dimensions:

1. Length and Substance: A Dual Test of Content and Structure¶

Longer books usually mean the author has enough space to develop their framework and present interdisciplinary data. However, when selecting books in recent years, I've also kept an eye out for a common pitfall: beware of certain business books that inflate page count by endlessly repeating a single case study. A truly great book must combine "sufficient length" with a "rigorous chain of argumentation" to be considered substantial.

2. Reading is Non-Linear: Once Core Knowledge is Established, Everything Clicks¶

Many people feel they read slowly, but reading is actually a non-linear process. Once you build core knowledge (a cognitive framework) in your mind, you naturally read faster. The underlying logic of knowledge across seemingly different fields is often interconnected.

However, I also frequently remind myself to guard against "overfitting." When we get used to interpreting everything through our existing cognitive frameworks, we easily fall prey to confirmation bias, overlooking the subtle nuances of new fields. Occasionally reading books that completely disrupt your existing logic and feel extremely uncomfortable to read is the key to expanding your boundaries.

3. Positive Thinking is Not "Chicken Soup": Argumentation and Practice are Core¶

When discussing book selection, what struck me most was the distinction the book makes between "chicken soup for the soul" books and "truly good" positive books:

• Chicken Soup: Offering superficial conclusions without sufficient practice or argumentation. Telling you to "be positive and love yourself" without providing an instruction manual or explaining the underlying mechanisms.
• Positive and Substantial Works: Deeply researching how a problem forms, framing the issue through rigorous experiments and argumentation, and providing concrete implementation steps.

A solid insight takes a massive amount of time to research and validate. This is why piecemeal bestsellers might have eye-catching titles, but their substance rarely goes beyond the cover, while true masterpieces stand the test of time.

4. Classics vs. Cutting-Edge Research: Dimensions of Knowledge¶

I have also developed a more multi-dimensional perspective on choosing what to read:

• Approaching Classics: Sometimes you just can't get into them, and that's simply because "the time hasn't come." Many classics on philosophy or human nature require a certain amount of life experience or adversity before a single page suddenly strikes a deep chord with you.
• Approaching Cutting-Edge Research: We must stay updated with new findings and not blindly rely on past viewpoints (especially since many traditional experiments in psychology and neuroscience have faced "replication crises" in recent years). At the same time, we must remember that new research has not yet stood the test of time, so we must maintain critical thinking.