Facts

Some of you may be surprised to see me citing the work of Naoko Takeuchi (武内直子).

In fact, I have never read her comics. It is not necessary, however, to have an elaborated study on a certain subject before you could have some understanding.

On this , let me share with you several principles of learning that many of us know but could not follow:

• If you have to read aloud during reading, you can't read very fast. (That's simple. Most speedreading courses teach this.)
• If you have to write down everything you know, you can't know very much. (The implication is: Do not keep making notes on everything you learn.)
• If you always have to learn something by reading it, your knowledge would be very limited. (On this, the analogy is frequently used by the churchgoers: you do not have to see the God before believing.)

Knowledge is: From some available facts, we try to see the relation between them, extrapolate, and, when a new piece of fact appears, note whether our extrapolation holds, or our idea needs to be modified.

And, at the end of the day, we would do away with the facts, and remember only the relations and ideas.

This is what Zhuangzi (莊子) meant: 得魚忘筌.