On Reading

Just in case you forget about how to read a book. These are some suggestions from Dr. Lin Yutang:

From on books and reading:
One should read classics in winter, because then one's mind is more concentrated; read history in summer, because one has more time; read the ancient philosphers in autumn, because they have such charming ideas; and read the collected works of later authors in spring, because then Nature is coming back to life.

A man who knows how to read finds everthing becomes a book wherever he goes: hills and waters are also books, and so are chess and wine, and so are the moon and flowers. A good traveller finds that everything becomes a landscape wherever he goes: books and history are landscapes, and so are wine and poetry, and so are the moon and the flowers.

As for reading and travel, I do not think even twice or five times the period suggested (ten years) would be enough to satisfy my desires. To do so one would have to live three hundred years, as Huang Chiuyen says.

I shall read more of his books and quote more when I find more wise words.