The Choice of Books　擇書之道

The Choice of Books

擇書之道

Sir John Lubbock

約翰·盧布克爵士

作者簡介

約翰·盧布克爵士（Sir John Lubbock，1834—1913），英國銀行家、政治家、自然主義者。作為政治家，他促進了公共假日（Bank Holiday）法案的頒布，同時對保護國家古跡作出了非凡貢獻；作為自然主義者，他在昆蟲學(xué)和人類學(xué)方面頗有研究，并撰寫了大量科普讀物，如《史前時代》（Prehistoric Times）、《螞蟻、蜜蜂和黃蜂》（Ants, Bees, and Wasps）、《昆蟲的起源和變形》（The Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects）等。

盧布克爵士在1889年出版了《生活的樂趣》（The Pleasures of Life）一書，書中有兩篇關(guān)于閱讀的文章，本文即其中一篇。盧布克爵士旁征博引，借名人名言談?wù)撟约旱膿駮?。感興趣的讀者可查閱原書附錄中盧布克爵士所選的“百本好書”書單。

“All round the room my silent servants wait

My friends in every season, bright and dim,

Angels and Seraphim

Come down and murmur to me, sweet and low,

And spirits of the skies all come and go

Early and Late.”

And yet too often they wait in vain. One reason for this is, I think, that people are overwhelmed by the crowd of books offered to them.

In old days books were rare and dear. Now on the contrary, it may be said with greater truth than ever that

“Words are things, and a small drop of ink,

Falling like dew upon a thought, produces

That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.”

Our ancestors had a difficulty in procuring them. Our difficulty now is what to select. We must be careful what we read, and not, like the sailors of Ulysses, take bags of wind for sacks of treasure—not only lest we should even now fall into the error of the Greeks, and suppose that language and definitions can be instruments of investigation as well as of thought, but lest, as too often happens, we should waste time over trash. There are many books to which one may apply, in the sarcastic sense, the ambiguous remark said to have been made to an unfortunate author, “I will lose no time in reading your book.”

There are, indeed, books are books, and there are books which, as Lamb said, are not books at all. It is wonderful how much innocent happiness we thoughtlessly throw away. An Eastern proverb says that calamities sent by heaven may be avoided, but from those we bring on ourselves there is no escape.

Many, I believe, are deterred from attempting what are called stiff books for fear they should not understand them; but there are few who need complain of the narrowness of their minds, if only they would do their best with them.

In reading, however, it is most important to select subjects in which one is interested. I remember years ago consulting Mr. Darwin as to the selection of a course of study. He asked me what interested me most, and advised me to choose that subject. This, indeed, applies to the work of life generally.

I am sometimes disposed to think that the readers of the next generation will be, not our lawyers and doctors, shopkeepers and manufacturers, but the laborers and mechanics. Does not this seem natural? The former work mainly with their head; when their daily duties are over the brain is often exhausted, and of their leisure time much must be devoted to air and exercise. The laborer and mechanic, on the contrary, besides working often for much shorter hours, have in their work-time taken sufficient bodily exercise, and could therefore give any leisure they might have to reading and study. They have not done so as yet, it is true; but this has been for obvious reasons. Now, however, in the first place, they receive an excellent education in elementary schools, and in the second have more easy access to the best books.

Ruskin has observed that he does not wonder at what men suffer, but he often wonders at what they lose. We suffer much, no doubt, from the faults of others, but we lose much more by our own ignorance.

“If,”says Sir John Herschel, “I were to pray for a taste which should stand me instead under every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a shield against its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading. I speak of it of course only as a worldly advantage, and not in the slightest degree as superseding or derogating from the higher office and surer and stronger panoply of religious principles—but as a taste, and instrument, and a mode of pleasurable gratification. Give a man this taste, and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making a happy man, unless, indeed, you put into his hands a most perverse selection of books.”

It is one thing to own a library; it is quite another to use it wisely. I have often been astonished how little care people devote to the selection of what they read. Books, we know, are almost innumerable; our hours for reading are, alas! very few. And yet many people read almost by hazard. They will take any book they chance to find in a room at a friend's house; they will buy a novel at a railway-stall if it has an attractive title; indeed, I believe in some cases even the binding affects their choice. The selection is, no doubt, far from easy. I have often wished someone would recommend a list of a hundred good books. If we had such lists drawn up by a few good guides they would be most useful. I have indeed sometimes heard it said that in reading every one must choose for himself, but this reminds me of the recommendation not to go into the water till you can swim.

In the absence of such lists I have picked out the books most frequently mentioned with approval by those who have referred directly or indirectly to the pleasure of reading, and have ventured to include some which, though less frequently mentioned, are especial favorites of my own. Everyone who looks at the list will wish to suggest other books, as indeed I should myself, but in that case the number would soon run up.

I have abstained, for obvious reasons, from mentioning works by living authors, though from many of them—Tennyson, Ruskin, and others—I have myself derived the keenest enjoyment; and I have omitted works on science, with one or two exceptions, because the subject is so progressive.

I feel that the attempt is over bold, and I must beg for indulgence, while hoping for criticism; indeed one object which I have had in view is to stimulate others more competent far than I am to give us the advantage of their opinions.

Moreover, I must repeat that I suggest these works rather as those which, as far as I have seen, have been most frequently recommended, than as suggestions of my own, though I have slipped in a few of my own special favorites.

In any such selection much weight should, I think, be attached to the general verdict of mankind. There is a “struggle for existence”and a “survival of the fittest”among books, as well as among animals and plants. As Alonzo of Aragon said, “Age is a recommendation in four things—old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old books to read.”Still, this can not be accepted without important qualifications. The most recent books of history and science contain or ought to contain, the most accurate information and the most trustworthy conclusions. Moreover, while the books of other races and times have an interest from their very distance, it must be admitted that many will still more enjoy, and feel more at home with, those of our own century and people.

“屋中隨處可見靜候召喚的仆從，

一年四季，白晝黑夜，

天使，我忠實的友人

降落凡間，在我耳畔甜蜜呢喃，

天堂的精靈來回往復(fù)，

由晨至暮?！?

但仆從往往空等。我認為有個理由是，主人迷失在了浩瀚的書海之中。

過去書籍稀有而昂貴，現(xiàn)在的情況恰恰相反。下列話語從未如此真實：

“文字是重要的東西，一小滴墨水，

如露水般滴落于思緒之中，

能使千萬人思索。”

我們的祖先獲取書籍不容易，我們?nèi)缃衩媾R的難題則是選書。我們必須精心挑選所讀之書，不可像尤利西斯的水手那樣，將成袋的空氣當(dāng)作滿載的珍寶1 ——我們不僅要以希臘人的失誤為前車之鑒，將語言和定義當(dāng)作調(diào)查和思考的工具，更要避免將時間浪費在糟粕上（此事常有發(fā)生）。有人曾將一句一語雙關(guān)的評論贈與某位糟糕的作家：“讀你的書，我可不會浪費時間?！?這句頗有諷刺意味的評論也適用于許多書。

確實，有些書稱得上是書，但如蘭姆3所言，有些書根本不配稱為書。想想我們曾不假思索地放棄了多少純粹的樂趣，真是不可思議。東方諺語有云：“天作孽，猶可違；自作孽，不可活?！?

我想，許多人對所謂“艱深晦澀的著作”望而卻步，是因為害怕理解不了；但只要愿意全身心投入閱讀，沒有幾個人需要因自己思想狹隘而自怨自艾。

然而，閱讀時選擇自己感興趣的主題至關(guān)重要。我記得自己多年前曾問達爾文先生該如何選擇研究的課題。他問我對什么最感興趣，建議我就選擇那個主題。確實，這種方法也普遍適用于日常生活。

我有時會想，或許下一代的讀者不是律師、醫(yī)生、店主、制造商，而是勞工和技師。這難道不是很自然嗎？前者工作主要依靠腦力，勞作一日后大腦往往已疲憊不堪，大部分閑暇時光自然要花在戶外活動和體育鍛煉上。勞工和技師則恰恰相反。他們不但通常工作時間短得多，而且在工作時間已經(jīng)充分鍛煉了身體，閑暇時光則可用于閱讀和研究。沒錯，他們現(xiàn)在還沒有這么做；但這是出于顯而易見的原因。不過，如今他們已經(jīng)具備了兩點條件：首先，他們都接受了良好的初級教育；其次，他們比過去更容易獲得最優(yōu)秀的書籍。

羅斯金4評論道，他并不為人們遭受的苦難感到驚訝，卻常常驚訝于人們失去的東西。毫無疑問，我們因為別人的過錯受了不少苦，而我們因為自己的無知失去的東西要多得多。

約翰·赫歇爾爵士5說過：“如果我要祈求擁有這樣一種愛好——無論當(dāng)下情況如何，無論世事多么坎坷，它都能給我?guī)須g樂，幫我抵御苦難——我希望這種愛好是閱讀。當(dāng)然，我說的是俗世的益處，我無意用其取代或貶損更高的權(quán)威和不容置疑的宗教信條。閱讀是一種愛好、一件工具、一種愉悅滿足的方式。如果讓一個人擁有這種愛好和書籍，除非你提供的書過于邪惡墮落，否則他很難不感到幸福?！?

擁有書房是一回事，善用書房則是另一回事。人們選擇自己要讀的書時如此漫不經(jīng)心，這常常令我震驚。我們知道，書籍?dāng)?shù)不勝數(shù)，而我們的閱讀時間卻少之又少。然而，許多人讀書幾乎是在碰運氣。他們會在朋友家里隨手拿起一本書，會在火車站的書攤上買一本名字抓人眼球的小說。是的，我相信有些情況下，連書籍裝幀都會影響他們的選擇。選書無疑并不簡單。我常常希望有人為我推薦一張“百本好書”書單。如果有一些優(yōu)秀的導(dǎo)師開列這類書單，那必定對讀者大有裨益。我有時也聽人說，每個人都應(yīng)該自己選書。但這讓我想起了一句建議——學(xué)會游泳前，千萬別下水。

既然沒有這種書單，我就自己寫一份。我關(guān)注那些直接或間接提及閱讀樂趣的人，挑選出他們最常提及和夸贊的書；我還大膽囊括了一些他們較少提及，但特別對我胃口的書。每個看見這份書單的人都會想推薦其他書——我就是這樣——但如此一來，書目中書的數(shù)量便會激增。

雖然不少在世的作者——如丁尼生6、羅斯金等人——曾帶給我許多樂趣，但出于顯而易見的原因，我在書單里沒有提及他們的作品。我也略過了科學(xué)著作，僅有一兩本例外，因為科學(xué)的發(fā)展實在迅速。

我覺得自己的嘗試實在魯莽，希望得到讀者的寬容和指正。實際上，我寫這份書單的目的是拋磚引玉，激勵那些才能遠勝于我的人發(fā)表見解。

此外，我必須重申，書單里的大部分作品都曾受到眾人推薦，并非出于我的個人喜好。不過我還是添了幾本自己特別喜歡的書。

我想，作任何抉擇時，考慮人類普遍的判斷標(biāo)準(zhǔn)都是很重要的。“物競天擇，適者生存”法則適用于動植物，也適用于書。正如阿拉貢的阿隆索所說：“在四件事上，光陰留痕最值得稱道——老柴最好燒，陳酒最耐品，舊友最可靠，老書最宜讀?！钡@種說法也須加以限定。最新出版的歷史和科學(xué)書籍，理應(yīng)包含最準(zhǔn)確的信息、最可信的結(jié)論。必須承認的是，盡管關(guān)于其他種族、其他時代的作品會因距離而產(chǎn)生美感，但關(guān)于吾國吾民的書籍卻更能帶來閱讀享受，讓人讀來更加舒服自在。

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1．此典出自荷馬史詩《奧德賽》。奧德修斯（即羅馬神話中的尤利西斯）一行人逃到風(fēng)神島，風(fēng)神送給他們一個口袋，可以把所有逆風(fēng)都裝進去，以使他們一帆風(fēng)順地回家。船快行駛到家時，眾水手以為口袋里面裝的是金銀財寶，便趁奧德修斯睡覺時打開口袋，結(jié)果被風(fēng)吹回了風(fēng)神島。

2．原文一語雙關(guān)，既可理解為“我會抓緊時間去讀你的書”，也可理解為“我不會浪費時間去讀你的書”。此處明顯取后者之意。

3．查爾斯·蘭姆（Charles Lamb，1775—1834），英國著名散文家，以散文集《伊利亞隨筆》和《伊利亞續(xù)筆》聞名于世。

4．約翰·羅斯金（John Ruskin，1819—1900），英國政論家、藝術(shù)批評家。他推崇中世紀(jì)藝術(shù)，強調(diào)審美教育。

5．約翰·赫歇爾爵士（Sir John Herschel，1792—1871），英國數(shù)學(xué)家、天文學(xué)家。他曾為土星的7顆衛(wèi)星和天王星的4顆衛(wèi)星命名。

6．阿爾弗雷德·丁尼生（Alfred Tennyson，1809—1892），英國維多利亞時代桂冠詩人。他的詩歌辭藻華麗，音韻鏗鏘，追求音樂性。他的代表作有《悼念》《國王敘事詩》等。