Building Judgment
培养判断力

There’s no shortcut to smart.
变聪明没有捷径可走。

Judgment
判断力；判断；看法

If you want to make the maximum amount of money possible, if you want to get rich over your life in a deterministically predictable way, stay on the bleeding edge of trends and study technology, design, and art—become really good at something. [1]
要是你想赚尽可能多的钱，想在一生中稳稳当当地致富，那就紧跟潮流前沿，钻研技术、设计和艺术，在某方面做到出类拔萃。[1]

You don’t get rich by spending your time to save money.
靠花时间省钱，是发不了财的。

You get rich by saving your time to make money.
你通过节省时间去赚钱来实现致富。

Hard work is really overrated. How hard you work matters a lot less in the modern economy.
人们对努力工作的重视程度实在过高了。在现代经济体系里，工作的努力程度并没有那么重要。

What is underrated?
什么东西被低估了？

Judgment. Judgment is underrated. [1]
判断。判断的价值常被低估。[1]

Can you define judgment?
你能给“判断”下个定义吗？

My definition of wisdom is knowing the long-term consequences of your actions. Wisdom applied to external problems is judgment. They’re highly linked; knowing the long-term consequences of your actions and then making the right decision to capitalize on that. [78]
我对智慧的定义是，明白自己行为会产生的长远影响。而将智慧运用到解决外部问题上，就是判断力。这两者紧密相关，即明白自身行为的长远影响后，做出正确决策，从而加以利用。[78]

In an age of leverage, one correct decision can win everything.
在这个充满杠杆效应的时代，一个正确决策就能赢得一切。

Without hard work, you’ll develop neither judgment nor leverage.
不努力工作，你既培养不出判断力，也积累不了影响力。

You have to put in the time, but the judgment is more important. The direction you’re heading in matters more than how fast you move, especially with leverage. Picking the direction you’re heading in for every decision is far, far more important than how much force you apply. Just pick the right direction to start walking in, and start walking. [1]
你得投入时间，但判断力更为关键。前进方向比速度更重要，尤其是在借助杠杆的情况下。做每个决策时，选对方向远比使多大劲重要得多。选定正确方向，然后迈步向前就好。[1]

How to Think Clearly
如何进行清晰思考

“Clear thinker” is a better compliment than “smart.”
“思路清晰”比“聪明”更值得夸赞。

Real knowledge is intrinsic, and it’s built from the ground up. To use a math example, you can’t understand trigonometry without understanding arithmetic and geometry. Basically, if someone is using a lot of fancy words and a lot of big concepts, they probably don’t know what they’re talking about. I think the smartest people can explain things to a child. If you can’t explain it to a child, then you don’t know it. It’s a common saying and it’s very true.
真正的知识是内在的，是自下而上逐步积累形成的。以数学为例，不掌握算术和几何，就不可能理解三角学。一般来说，要是有人满嘴高深词汇和宏大概念，那他们很可能并不明白自己在讲什么。我觉得真正聪明的人，能把事情给小孩子讲明白。要是你没法给孩子讲清楚，那就说明你自己也没搞懂。这是句常言，而且很有道理。

Richard Feynman very famously does this in “Six Easy Pieces,” one of his early physics lectures. He basically explains mathematics in three pages. He starts from the number line—counting—and then he goes all the way up to precalculus. He just builds it up through an unbroken chain of logic. He doesn’t rely on any definitions.
理查德·费曼在其早期物理学讲座《费曼物理学讲义之六：基础物理》中，就因这样做而声名远扬。他仅用三页内容，便阐释了数学知识。他从数轴（计数）讲起，一路讲到微积分预备知识，通过连贯的逻辑层层递进，并未借助任何定义。

The really smart thinkers are clear thinkers. They understand the basics at a very, very fundamental level. I would rather understand the basics really well than memorize all kinds of complicated concepts I can’t stitch together and can’t rederive from the basics. If you can’t rederive concepts from the basics as you need them, you’re lost. You’re just memorizing. [4]
真正聪慧的思考者，思路清晰。他们对基础知识的理解，深入到了极为根本的层面。我宁愿把基础知识理解得极为透彻，也不愿去记忆各种复杂概念，因为这些概念既无法融会贯通，也无法从基础知识推导得出。若在需要时，无法由基础知识推导出相关概念，那便陷入困境了，这不过是死记硬背罢了。[4]

The advanced concepts in a field are less proven. We use them to signal insider knowledge, but we’d be better off nailing the basics. [11]
一个领域里的前沿概念，其可靠性往往没那么高。我们用这些概念来显示自己是内行，但要是能把基础知识学扎实，我们会取得更好的成效。[11]

Clear thinkers appeal to their own authority.
思路清晰的人会依靠自身的权威性。

Part of making effective decisions boils down to dealing with reality. How do you make sure you’re dealing with reality when you’re making decisions?
做出有效决策，关键之一在于直面现实。做决策时，怎样才能确保自己面对的是现实情况呢？

By not having a strong sense of self or judgments or mind presence. The “monkey mind” will always respond with this regurgitated emotional response to what it thinks the world should be. Those desires will cloud your reality. This happens a lot of times when people are mixing politics and business.
若缺乏强烈的自我意识、判断力或精神感知，“杂念丛生的思维”总会对其臆想中的世界模样，做出这种机械重复的情绪反应。这些欲望会遮蔽你对现实的认知。人们在把政治与商业混为一谈时，这种情况屡见不鲜。

The number one thing clouding us from being able to see reality is we have preconceived notions of the way it should be.
妨碍我们看清现实的头号因素，是我们对现实本应如何存在着先入为主的观念。

One definition of a moment of suffering is “the moment when you see things exactly the way they are.” This whole time, you’ve been convinced your business is doing great, and really, you’ve ignored the signs it’s not doing well. Then, your business fails, and you suffer because you’ve been putting off reality. You’ve been hiding it from yourself.
有一种对痛苦时刻的定义是：“你看清事物真实状况的那一刻”。一直以来，你都坚信自己的生意做得风生水起，可实际上，你对生意不好的迹象视而不见。后来，生意失败了，你痛苦不堪，因为你一直在逃避现实，自欺欺人。

The good news is, the moment of suffering—when you’re in pain—is a moment of truth. It is a moment where you’re forced to embrace reality the way it actually is. Then, you can make meaningful change and progress. You can only make progress when you’re starting with the truth.
好消息是，痛苦之时——当你正遭受痛苦折磨时——也是认清现实的时刻。此时，你不得不直面现实。而后，你便能做出有意义的改变与进步。唯有基于现实，才能取得进步。

The hard thing is seeing the truth. To see the truth, you have to get your ego out of the way because your ego doesn’t want to face the truth. The smaller you can make your ego, the less conditioned you can make your reactions, the less desires you can have about the outcome you want, the easier it will be to see the reality.
难的是看清真相。要想看清真相，就得放下自我，因为自我不愿直面真相。自我越小，反应越不受束缚，对预期结果的欲望越少，就越容易看清现实。

What we wish to be true clouds our perception of what is true. Suffering is the moment when we can no longer deny reality.
我们心中所愿，会蒙蔽我们对现实的认知。当我们再也无法否认现实时，痛苦便会降临。

Imagine we’re going through something difficult like a breakup, a job loss, a business failure, or a health problem, and our friends are advising us. When we’re advising them, the answer is obvious. It comes to us in a minute, and we tell them exactly, “Oh that girl, get over her, she wasn’t good for you anyway. You’ll be happier. Trust me. You’ll find someone.”
设想一下，我们正遭遇诸如分手、失业、创业失败或健康出问题这类难事，朋友们纷纷给我们出主意。可要是角色互换，由我们来给他们建议，答案就一目了然了。我们马上就能想到，然后会直截了当地告诉他们：“哎呀，那个女孩，别纠结了，她压根就不适合你。你会过得更开心的。信我，你肯定能遇到更好的人。”

You know the correct answer, but your friend can’t see it, because they’re in the moment of suffering and pain. They’re still wishing reality was different. The problem isn’t reality. The problem is their desire is colliding with reality and preventing them from seeing the truth, no matter how much you say it. The same thing happens when I make decisions.
你知道正确答案，可你的朋友却看不到，因为他们正深陷痛苦之中。他们还在幻想现实能有所改变。问题并非出在现实本身，而是他们的欲望与现实相悖，这使得他们无法看清真相，无论你怎么说都无济于事。我做决策的时候，也会碰到同样的状况。

The more desire I have for something to work out a certain way, the less likely I am to see the truth. Especially in business, if something isn’t going well, I try to acknowledge it publicly and I try to acknowledge it publicly in front of my co-founders and friends and co-workers. Then, I’m not hiding it from anybody else. If I’m not hiding it from anybody, I’m not going to delude myself from what’s actually going on. [4]
我越是渴望事情按特定方式发展，就越难看清真相。尤其在商业活动中，要是事情进展不顺，我会试着公开承认，而且是当着联合创始人、朋友和同事的面承认。如此一来，我就不会对任何人隐瞒。既然不瞒着别人，我也就不会自欺欺人，看不清实际状况。[4]

What you feel tells you nothing about the facts—it merely tells you something about your estimate of the facts.
你的感受并不能反映事实，它仅仅反映了你对事实的判断。

It’s actually really important to have empty space. If you don’t have a day or two every week in your calendar where you’re not always in meetings, and you’re not always busy, then you’re not going to be able to think.
拥有空闲时间其实至关重要。要是你每周的日程里连一两天不总开会、不总忙碌的时间都没有，那你根本没法思考。

You’re not going to be able to have good ideas for your business. You’re not going to be able to make good judgments. I also encourage taking at least one day a week (preferably two, because if you budget two, you’ll end up with one) where you just have time to think.
你没法为自己的生意想出好点子，也没法做出明智的判断。我还建议每周至少拿出一天时间（要是能拿出两天更好，因为计划两天的话，最终也能有一天），专门用来思考。

It’s only after you’re bored you have the great ideas. It’s never going to be when you’re stressed, or busy, running around or rushed. Make the time. [7]
只有在你觉得无聊时，才会冒出绝妙的点子。压力大、忙碌、东奔西走或是匆匆忙忙的时候，是想不出好主意的。所以要留出这样的时间。[7]

Very smart people tend to be weird since they insist on thinking everything through for themselves.
极为聪慧之人往往行为古怪，因为他们凡事都坚持自己深思熟虑。

A contrarian isn’t one who always objects—that’s a conformist of a different sort. A contrarian reasons independently from the ground up and resists pressure to conform.
逆向思考者并非一味唱反调之人，那不过是另一种形式的随波逐流者。逆向思考者会追本溯源、独立推理，并抗拒随大流的压力。

Cynicism is easy. Mimicry is easy.
愤世嫉俗易，人云亦云亦易。
Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed.
乐观的逆向思考者最为难得。

Shed Your Identity to See Reality
放下身份认知，看清现实本质

Our egos are constructed in our formative years—our first two decades. They get constructed by our environment, our parents, society. Then, we spend the rest of our life trying to make our ego happy. We interpret anything new through our ego: “How do I change the external world to make it more how I would like it to be?” [8]
我们的自我在成长的头二十年逐步形成，受到环境、父母和社会的塑造。此后，我们余生都在努力取悦自我。我们透过自我的视角去解读一切新事物：“我要如何改变外部世界，让它更合我意？”[8]

“Tension is who you think you should be.
焦虑源于你心中的理想自我。
Relaxation is who you are.”
放松，才是你的本质。

—Buddhist saying
——佛教谚语

You absolutely need habits to function. You cannot solve every problem in life as if it is the first time it’s thrown at you. We accumulate all these habits. We put them in the bundle of identity, ego, ourselves, and then we get attached to them. “I’m Naval. This is the way I am.”
你绝对需要依靠习惯才能正常生活。不能每次碰到问题，都当作头一遭来处理。我们逐渐养成各种习惯，并将其融入身份认同、自我认知以及个人特质之中，进而对这些习惯产生依赖。“我是纳瓦尔，我就是这样的行事风格。”

It’s really important to be able to uncondition yourself, to be able to take your habits apart and say, “Okay, this is a habit I probably picked up when I was a toddler trying to get my parent’s attention. Now I’ve reinforced it and reinforced it, and I call it a part of my identity. Does it still serve me? Does it make me happier? Does it make me healthier? Does it make me accomplish whatever I set out to accomplish?”
能够摆脱固有模式，拆解自己的习惯，然后问问自己：“嗯，这个习惯可能是我小时候为了引起父母注意养成的。后来我不断强化它，还把它当成了自己身份的一部分。可它现在对我还有用吗？能让我更开心吗？能让我更健康吗？能帮我达成想要实现的目标吗？”

I’m less habitual than most people. I don’t like to structure my day. To the extent I have habits, I try to make them more deliberate rather than accidents of history. [4]
我不像大多数人那样容易养成固定习惯。我不喜欢给自己的一天设定固定模式。就我已有的习惯来说，我会尽量让它们是有意为之，而非因循成习。[4]

Any belief you took in a package (ex. Democrat, Catholic, American) is suspect and should be re-evaluated from base principles.
任何你不假思索接受的观念（比如与民主党人、天主教徒、美国人相关的观念）都值得怀疑，应当从基本原理重新审视。

I try not to have too much I’ve pre-decided. I think creating identities and labels locks you in and keeps you from seeing the truth.
我尽量不预先做太多决定。我觉得给自己设定身份、贴上标签，会限制自己，让人无法看清真相。

To be honest, speak without identity.
说实话，不带身份偏见地表达。

I used to identify as libertarian, but then I would find myself defending positions I hadn’t really thought through because they’re a part of the libertarian canon. If all your beliefs line up into neat little bundles, you should be highly suspicious.
我以前觉得自己算是个自由主义者，但后来发现，我会去维护一些自己并未真正深入思考过的观点，只因为它们属于自由主义的正统理念。要是你的所有观念都能规整地归成几类，那你可得好好反思反思了。

I don’t like to self-identify on almost any level anymore, which keeps me from having too many of these so-called stable beliefs. [4]
如今，我几乎不愿在任何层面给自己下定义，这样一来，我就不会有太多这类所谓笃定的信念。[4]

We each have a contrarian belief society rejects. But the more our own identity and local tribe reject it, the more real it likely is.
我们每个人都持有一种不被社会认可的逆向观点。而且，我们自身以及周围圈子越是抵触这种观点，它反而越有可能是正确的。

There are two attractive lessons about suffering in the long term. It can make you accept the world the way it is. The other lesson is it can make your ego change in an extremely hard way.
关于长期受苦，有两个引人深思的启示。一是它能让你接受世界的本来面目。另一个是它会以极其艰难的方式改变你的自我认知。

Maybe you’re a competitive athlete, and you get injured badly, like Bruce Lee. You have to accept being an athlete is not your entire identity, and maybe you can forge a new identity as a philosopher. [8]
或许你是一名竞技运动员，不幸像李小龙那样严重受伤。你得明白，运动员身份并非你的全部，或许你可以开拓新的身份，成为一名哲学家。[8]

Facebook redesigns. Twitter redesigns. Personalities, careers, and teams also need redesigns. There are no permanent solutions in a dynamic system.
脸书在重新设计，推特也在重新设计。个人特质、职业发展以及团队同样需要重新规划。在动态变化的环境中，不存在一劳永逸的方案。

Learn the Skills of Decision-Making
学习决策的技巧

The classical virtues are all decision-making heuristics to make one optimize for the long term rather than for the short term. [11]
经典美德皆为决策的启发方式，旨在让人着眼于长期优化，而非短期。[11]

Self-serving conclusions should have a higher bar.
出于私利得出的结论，应该有更高的评判标准。

I do view a lot of my goals over the next few years of unconditioning previous learned responses or habituated responses, so I can make decisions more cleanly in the moment without relying on memory or prepackaged heuristics and judgments. [4]
我的确觉得，在未来几年，我有不少目标是要摒弃以往习得的反应或习惯反应，如此一来，我就能在当下更干脆利落地做决策，而无需依赖记忆，也不用凭借预设的经验法则和判断。[4]

Almost all biases are time-saving heuristics. For important decisions, discard memory and identity, and focus on the problem.
几乎所有偏见都是省时的经验法则。面对重要决策时，摒弃记忆与身份因素，专注于问题本身。

Radical honesty just means I want to be free. Part of being free means I can say what I think and think what I say. They’re highly congruent and integrated. Theoretical physicist Richard Feynman famously said, “You should never, ever fool anybody, and you are the easiest person to fool.” The moment you tell somebody something dishonest, you’ve lied to yourself. Then you’ll start believing your own lie, which will disconnect you from reality and take you down the wrong road.
极致坦诚仅仅意味着我渴望自由。自由的一部分体现为，我能畅所欲言，且言行一致。二者高度契合、浑然一体。理论物理学家理查德·费曼有句名言：“永远不要欺骗任何人，因为最容易骗到的人就是你自己。” 一旦你对别人说谎，就等于欺骗了自己。随后你会开始相信自己编造的谎言，这会使你脱离现实，误入歧途。

I never ask if “I like it” or “I don’t like it.” I think “this is what it is” or “this is what it isn’t.”
我从不问“我喜不喜欢”，而是思考“这是什么”或者“这不是什么”。

—Richard Feynman
—理查德·费曼

It’s really important for me to be honest. I don’t go out of my way volunteering negative or nasty things. I would combine radical honesty with an old rule Warren Buffett has, which is praise specifically, criticize generally. I try to follow this. I don’t always follow it, but I think I follow it enough to have made a difference in my life.
对我而言，诚实至关重要。我不会刻意去讲负面或刻薄的话。我会把极致的坦诚，与沃伦·巴菲特的一条老原则相结合，那就是表扬要具体，批评要笼统。我努力践行这一原则，虽不总能做到，但我认为自己践行得足够多，已经让生活有所改观。

If you have a criticism of someone, then don’t criticize the person—criticize the general approach or criticize the class of activities. If you have to praise somebody, then always try and find the person who is the best example of what you’re praising and praise the person, specifically. Then people’s egos and identities, which we all have, don’t work against you. They work for you. [4]
要是你想批评某人，别针对个人，而是批评其整体方法或某类行为。要是你想表扬某人，那就尽量找出最能代表你所表扬特质的那个人，然后具体地表扬这个人。如此，我们每个人都有的自尊心和身份认同就不会跟你对着干，反而会对你有所助益。[4]

Any advice on developing capacity for instinctual blunt honesty?
对于培养本能地直言不讳的能力，有什么建议吗？

Tell everyone. Start now. It doesn’t have to be blunt. Charisma is the ability to project confidence and love at the same time. It’s almost always possible to be honest and positive. [71]
告诉所有人，现在就行动起来。不必太过生硬直接。魅力就是能够同时展现出自信与善意。做到既真诚又积极，这几乎总是可以实现的。[71]

As an investor and CEO of AngelList, you’re paid to be right when other people are wrong. Do you have a process around how you make decisions?
作为 AngelList 的投资者兼首席执行官，别人判断失误时，你若能做出正确判断，就能获得回报。你做决策有什么流程吗？

Yes. Decision-making is everything. In fact, someone who makes decisions right 80 percent of the time instead of 70 percent of the time will be valued and compensated in the market hundreds of times more.
没错，决策至关重要。实际上，在市场中，决策正确率达 80%的人，相比正确率仅 70%的人，其价值与回报会高出数百倍。

I think people have a hard time understanding a fundamental fact of leverage. If I manage $1 billion and I’m right 10 percent more often than somebody else, my decision-making creates $100 million worth of value on a judgment call. With modern technology and large workforces and capital, our decisions are leveraged more and more.
我觉得人们很难理解杠杆的一个基本事实。要是我掌管 10 亿美元，而且我做对决策的概率比别人高 10%，那仅靠一次判断，我做的决策就能创造出 1 亿美元的价值。随着现代技术的发展，加上大量劳动力和资本的投入，我们决策产生的杠杆效应越来越强。

If you can be more right and more rational, you’re going to get nonlinear returns in your life. I love the blog Farnam Street because it really focuses on helping you be more accurate, an overall better decision-maker. Decision-making is everything. [4]
要是你能更正确、更理性，生活中你会得到超乎寻常的回报。我很喜欢“法纳姆街”这个博客，它特别注重帮你提升判断的准确性，让你在做决策时更胜一筹。毕竟，决策能力至关重要。[4]

The more you know, the less you diversify.
懂得越多，涉猎就越不分散。

Collect Mental Models
收集心智模型

During decision-making, the brain is a memory prediction machine.
做决策时，大脑就像一台记忆预测机器。

A lousy way to do memory prediction is “X happened in the past, therefore X will happen in the future.” It’s too based on specific circumstances. What you want is principles. You want mental models.
一种糟糕的预测记忆的方法是“过去发生了 X，因此未来也会发生 X”。这太依赖特定的情况了。你需要的是原则，是思维模式。

The best mental models I have found came through evolution, game theory, and Charlie Munger. Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett’s partner. Very good investor. He has tons and tons of great mental models. Author and trader Nassim Taleb has great mental models. Benjamin Franklin had great mental models. I basically load my head full of mental models. [4]
我发现，最棒的思维模型源自进化论、博弈论，还有查理·芒格。查理·芒格是沃伦·巴菲特的搭档，是一位极为出色的投资者，拥有数不胜数的优秀思维模型。作家兼交易员纳西姆·塔勒布，也有很棒的思维模型。本杰明·富兰克林同样如此。基本上，我满脑子都是各种思维模型。[4]

I use my tweets and other people’s tweets as maxims that help compress my own learnings and recall them. The brain space is finite—you have finite neurons—so you can almost think of these as pointers, addresses, or mnemonics to help you remember deep-seated principles where you have the underlying experience to back it up.
我将自己以及他人发布的推文当作格言，这些格言能帮我提炼所学知识，方便我回忆。大脑空间有限，神经元数量也有限，所以你几乎可以把这些推文视为指针、地址或助记手段，帮助你记住那些有内在经验支撑的深层原则。

If you don’t have the underlying experience, then it just reads like a collection of quotes. It’s cool, it’s inspirational for a moment, maybe you’ll make a nice poster out of it. But then you forget it and move on. Mental models are really just compact ways for you to recall your own knowledge. [78]
要是你没有相关的实际经历，那读起来就跟看一堆名言警句差不多。看着挺酷，能让人一时受到鼓舞，说不定你还会挑几句做成好看的海报。但过后就抛诸脑后，继续忙别的去了。心智模型其实就是一种简洁的方式，方便你唤起自己已有的知识。[78]

Evolution
进化

I think a lot of modern society can be explained through evolution. One theory is civilization exists to answer the question of who gets to mate. If you look around, from a purely sexual selection perspective, sperm is abundant and eggs are scarce. It’s an allocation problem.
我觉得很多现代社会现象都能用进化论来解释。有一种理论称，文明的存在是为了解答谁能获得交配权这一问题。看看周围，从纯粹的性选择角度而言，精子数量繁多，而卵子稀缺。这是个分配问题。

Literally all of the works of mankind and womankind can be traced down to people trying to solve this problem.
从根本上说，人类的所有成就都源于人们对这一问题的探索。

Evolution, thermodynamics, information theory, and complexity have explanatory and predictive power in many aspects of life. [11]
进化、热力学、信息论以及复杂性，在生活的诸多方面都具备解释与预测的能力。[11]

Inversion
逆向思维；反转

I don’t believe I have the ability to say what is going to work. Rather, I try to eliminate what’s not going to work. I think being successful is just about not making mistakes. It’s not about having correct judgment. It’s about avoiding incorrect judgments. [4]
我觉得自己没本事断言什么能成功。我做的，是把那些成不了的事筛出去。我认为成功就是不犯错，而不是做出正确判断，而是避免做出错误判断。[4]

Complexity Theory
复杂性理论

I was really into complexity theory back in the mid-90s. The more I got into it, the more I understand the limits of our knowledge and the limits of our prediction capability. Complexity has been super helpful to me. It has helped me come to a system that operates in the face of ignorance. I believe we are fundamentally ignorant and very, very bad at predicting the future. [4]
90 年代中期，我对复杂性理论痴迷不已。钻研得越深，我就越发认识到我们知识的局限，以及预测能力的不足。复杂性理论对我帮助极大，让我构建出一套即便在认知有限的情况下仍能运作的体系。我觉得，我们本质上所知甚少，极不擅长预测未来。[4]

Economics
经济学

Microeconomics and game theory are fundamental. I don’t think you can be successful in business or even navigate most of our modern capitalist society without an extremely good understanding of supply-and-demand, labor-versus-capital, game theory, and those kinds of things. [4]
微观经济学和博弈论至关重要。我觉得，要是对供求关系、劳资关系、博弈论这类知识没有透彻的理解，就难以在商业领域取得成功，甚至难以在现代资本主义社会中妥善应对诸多事务。[4]

Ignore the noise. The market will decide.
忽略杂音，市场自会定夺。

Principal-Agent Problem
委托 - 代理问题

To me, the principal-agent problem is the single most fundamental problem in microeconomics. If you do not understand the principal-agent problem, you will not know how to navigate your way through the world. It is important if you want to build a successful company or be successful in your dealings.
对我而言，委托代理问题是微观经济学中最为根本的问题。要是不理解这一问题，你就不知该如何在社会中找准方向。无论是创办一家成功的公司，还是在人际交往中获得成功，理解这个问题都至关重要。

It’s a very simple concept. Julius Caesar famously said, “If you want it done, then go. And if not, then send.” What he meant was, if you want it done right, then you have to go yourself and do it. When you are the principal, then you are the owner—you care, and you will do a great job. When you are the agent and you are doing it on somebody else’s behalf, you can do a bad job. You just don’t care. You optimize for yourself rather than for the principal’s assets.
这是个很简单的概念。尤利乌斯·恺撒有句名言：“想做成事，就亲自去；不然，就派人去。” 他的意思是，若想把事做好，就得亲力亲为。自己作为负责人，就是事情的主导者——会上心，也能把事办好。而作为代理人替别人做事，可能就做不好。因为不上心，只会为自己考虑，而非为负责人的利益着想。

The smaller the company, the more everyone feels like a principal. The less you feel like an agent, the better the job you’re going to do. The more closely you can tie someone’s compensation to the exact value they’re creating, the more you turn them into a principal, and the less you turn them into an agent. [12]
公司规模越小，每个人越有主人翁意识。你越不觉得自己是个执行者，工作就会做得越好。你越能将个人薪酬与他们创造的实际价值紧密关联，就越能让他们产生主人翁意识，而不是仅仅充当执行者。[12]

I think at a core fundamental level, we understand this. We’re attracted to principals, and we all bond with principals, but the media and modern society spend a lot of time brainwashing you about needing an agent, an agent being important, and the agent being knowledgeable. [12]
我觉得从核心本质上来说，我们是明白这一点的。我们会被原则所吸引，也都会与原则产生共鸣。然而，媒体和现代社会却花大量时间给你灌输一种观念，让你觉得需要一个代理人，觉得代理人至关重要且见多识广。[12]

Compound Interest
复利

Compound interest—most of you should know it in the finance context. If you don’t, crack open a microeconomics textbook. It’s worth reading a microeconomics textbook from start to finish.
复利——想必你们大多数人都在金融领域听说过。要是没听说过，不妨翻开一本微观经济学教材。通读一本微观经济学教材是很有价值的。

An example of compound interest—let’s say you’re earning 10 percent a year on your $1. The first year, you make 10 percent, and you end up with $1.10. The next year, you end up with $1.21, and the next year $1.33. It keeps adding onto itself. If you’re compounding at 30 percent per year for thirty years, you don’t just end up with ten or twenty times your money—you end up with thousands of times your money. [10]
以复利为例，假设你有 1 美元本金，年利率为 10%。第一年，你能获得 10%的收益，账户余额变为 1.10 美元。第二年，余额变为 1.21 美元，第三年则变为 1.33 美元，收益会持续累加。要是年利率为 30%，持续 30 年进行复利计算，最终收益可不是本金的 10 倍或 20 倍，而是数千倍。[10]

In the intellectual domain, compound interest rules. When you look at a business with one hundred users growing at a compound rate of 20 percent per month, it can very, very quickly stack up to having millions of users. Sometimes, even the founders of these companies are surprised by how large the business scales. [10]
在知识领域，复利规律同样起作用。设想一家企业，起初仅有一百个用户，却能以每月 20%的复合增长率发展，那么用户数量会极快地增长至数百万。有时候，就连这些公司的创始人都会对业务的扩张规模之大感到惊讶。[10]

Basic Math
基础数学

I think basic mathematics is really underrated. If you’re going to make money, if you’re going to invest money, your basic math should be really good. You don’t need to learn geometry, trigonometry, calculus, or any of the complicated stuff if you’re just going into business. But you want arithmetic, probability, and statistics. Those are extremely important. Crack open a basic math book, and make sure you are really good at multiplying, dividing, compounding, probability, and statistics.
我觉得基础数学的重要性着实被低估了。要是你想赚钱、做投资，那基础数学就得过硬。要是只涉足商业领域，几何、三角、微积分这类复杂的知识倒不必学，但算术、概率和统计学一定要掌握，这些极为关键。找本基础数学书翻翻，务必保证自己对乘除运算、复利计算、概率及统计学都十分精通。

Black Swans
黑天鹅

There’s a new branch of probability statistics, which is really around tail events. Black swans are extreme probabilities. Again, I have to refer back to Nassim Taleb, who I think is one of the greatest philosopher-scientists of our times. He’s really done a lot of pioneering work on this.
概率统计学有一个新分支，主要研究尾部事件。黑天鹅属于极端概率事件。我得再次提到纳西姆·塔勒布，我觉得他是我们这个时代最伟大的哲学科学家之一，在这方面做了大量开创性工作。

Calculus
微积分

Calculus is useful to know, to understand the rates of change and how nature works. But it’s more important to understand the principles of calculus—where you’re measuring the change in small discrete or small continuous events. It’s not important you solve integrals or do derivations on demand, because you’re not going to need to in the business world.
了解微积分很有用，它能让你理解变化率以及自然的运行规律。但更关键的是理解微积分的原理——也就是如何衡量微小离散事件或微小连续事件中的变化。能否随时求解积分或进行求导并不重要，因为在商业领域并不需要这些。

Falsifiability
可证伪性

Least understood, but the most important principle for anyone claiming “science” on their side—falsifiability. If it doesn’t make falsifiable predictions, it’s not science. For you to believe something is true, it should have predictive power, and it must be falsifiable. [11]
最难以理解，却对任何自诩“科学”的人而言最为关键的原则——可证伪性。若无法做出可证伪的预测，那就称不上科学。要让你相信某事为真，它不仅要有预测能力，还必须具备可证伪性。[11]

I think macroeconomics, because it doesn’t make falsifiable predictions (which is the hallmark of science), has become corrupted. You never have a counterexample when studying the economy. You can never take the US economy and run two different experiments at the same time. [4]
我觉得宏观经济学已经变味了，因为它无法给出可证伪的预测（这可是科学的一大特征）。研究经济的时候，你根本找不到反例。你绝不可能同时对美国经济开展两个不同的实验。[4]

If you can’t decide, the answer is no.
要是拿不定主意，答案就是否。

If I’m faced with a difficult choice, such as:
如果我面临艰难抉择，比如：

If you cannot decide, the answer is no. And the reason is, modern society is full of options. There are tons and tons of options. We live on a planet of seven billion people, and we are connected to everybody on the internet. There are hundreds of thousands of careers available to you. There are so many choices.
要是你拿不定主意，答案就是否定的。原因在于，现代社会选择众多，简直数不胜数。我们生活的星球上有 70 亿人口，通过互联网，我们与每个人都紧密相连。有成千上万个职业任你挑选，选择实在是太多了。

You’re biologically not built to realize how many choices there are. Historically, we’ve all evolved in tribes of 150 people. When someone comes along, they may be your only option for a partner.
从生理层面来讲，你生来就意识不到究竟有多少种选择。从历史角度看，我们都是在 150 人规模左右的部落中发展而来的。当某个人出现时，他/她可能就是你择偶的唯一人选。

When you choose something, you get locked in for a long time. Starting a business may take ten years. You start a relationship that will be five years or maybe more. You move to a city for ten to twenty years. These are very, very long-lived decisions. It’s very, very important we only say yes when we are pretty certain. You’re never going to be absolutely certain, but you’re going to be very certain.
一旦做出选择，你便会在很长时间内受其约束。创业或许得花十年时间，谈一场恋爱可能持续五年甚至更久，搬到一座城市居住，可能一待就是十到二十年。这些决定影响深远，所以，只有在相当确定的情况下，我们才应做出承诺。虽然永远无法做到绝对确定，但务必做到心里有数。

If you find yourself creating a spreadsheet for a decision with a list of yes’s and no’s, pros and cons, checks and balances, why this is good or bad…forget it. If you cannot decide, the answer is no. [10]
要是你发现自己在为做某个决策制作电子表格，罗列各种是是非非、利弊得失、制衡因素，以及这件事的好坏缘由……那就别折腾了。要是你拿不定主意，答案就是否定的。[10]

Run Uphill
往坡上跑

Simple heuristic: If you’re evenly split on a difficult decision, take the path more painful in the short term.
简单的经验法则：面对艰难抉择，若你摇摆不定，那就选短期内更痛苦的那条路。

If you have two choices to make, and they’re relatively equal choices, take the path more difficult and more painful in the short term.
要是你面临两个相差无几的选择，那就选短期内更艰难、更痛苦的那条路。

What’s actually going on is one of these paths requires short-term pain. And the other path leads to pain further out in the future. And what your brain is doing through conflict-avoidance is trying to push off the short-term pain.
实际情况是，其中一条路会带来短期痛苦，另一条路则会在未来引发痛苦。而大脑出于回避冲突的本能，会试图拖延承受短期痛苦。

By definition, if the two are even and one has short-term pain, that path has long-term gain associated. With the law of compound interest, long-term gain is what you want to go toward. Your brain is overvaluing the side with the short-term happiness and trying to avoid the one with short-term pain.
从定义上来说，如果二者情况相近，而其中一条路会带来短期痛苦，那么这条路往往伴随着长期收益。根据复利法则，长期收益才是你应该追求的目标。你的大脑过度看重能带来短期快乐的选项，而试图避开会带来短期痛苦的选项。

So you have to cancel the tendency out (it’s a powerful subconscious tendency) by leaning into the pain. As you know, most of the gains in life come from suffering in the short term so you can get paid in the long term.
所以你得通过直面痛苦来克服这种倾向（这是一种强烈的潜意识倾向）。要知道，生活中多数的收获都源于短期吃苦，这样才能在长期有所回报。

Working out for me is not fun; I suffer in the short term, I feel pain. But then in the long term, I’m better off because I have muscles or I’m healthier.
对我而言，锻炼并非趣事，短期内我得吃苦受累、忍受疼痛。但长远来看，我会从中受益，身体更强健，或者健康状况更佳。

If I am reading a book and I’m getting confused, it is just like working out and the muscle getting sore or tired, except now my brain is being overwhelmed. In the long run I’m getting smarter because I’m absorbing new concepts from working at the limit or edge of my capability.
如果我读书时感到困惑，这就好比锻炼时肌肉酸痛或疲惫，只不过此刻是我的大脑负荷过重。从长远看，我会变得更聪慧，因为我在能力极限边缘努力汲取新的概念。

So you generally want to lean into things with short-term pain, but long-term gain.
所以，一般来说，你会倾向于选择那些短期吃苦但长期获益的事情。

What are the most efficient ways to build new mental models?
构建新思维模型的最有效方式有哪些？

Read a lot—just read. [2]
多读书，读就完事儿了。[2]

Reading science, math, and philosophy one hour per day will likely put you at the upper echelon of human success within seven years.
每天花一小时阅读科学、数学和哲学类书籍，不出七年，你很可能就会跻身成功人士的行列。

Learn to Love to Read
学会爱上阅读

(Specific recommendations for books, blogs, and more are in “Naval’s Recommended Reading” section.)
（关于书籍、博客等的具体推荐，见“纳瓦尔推荐阅读”部分。）

The genuine love for reading itself, when cultivated, is a superpower. We live in the age of Alexandria, when every book and every piece of knowledge ever written down is a fingertip away. The means of learning are abundant—it’s the desire to learn that is scarce. [3]
真正热爱阅读，一旦养成这种习惯，便如同拥有超能力。我们身处信息发达的时代，所有书籍和记录下来的知识，都近在咫尺。学习资源俯拾皆是，稀缺的是求知欲。[3]

Reading was my first love. [4]
阅读是我最初的热爱。[4]

I remember my grandparents’ house in India. I’d be a little kid on the floor going through all of my grandfather’s Reader’s Digests, which is all he had to read. Now, of course, there’s a smorgasbord of information out there—anybody can read anything all the time. Back then, it was much more limited. I would read comic books, storybooks, whatever I could get my hands on.
我记得祖父母在印度的家。那时我还是个小孩，会趴在地上翻看祖父仅有的读物——《读者文摘》。如今，信息铺天盖地，任何人随时随地都能读到任何内容。可在当时，选择极为有限。我会读漫画书、故事书，只要能拿到手的书，我都读。

I think I always loved to read because I’m actually an antisocial introvert. I was lost in the world of words and ideas from an early age. I think some of it comes from the happy circumstance that when I was young, nobody forced me to read certain things.
我想我一直热爱阅读，因为我其实是个不爱社交的内向之人。自幼我便沉浸在文字与思想的世界中。我觉得这部分得益于一种幸运的境遇：小时候，没人逼我读特定的书籍。

I think there’s a tendency among parents and teachers to say, “Oh, you should read this, but don’t read that.” I read a lot which (by today’s standards) would be considered mental junk food. [4]
我觉得家长和老师们往往会说：“哦，你该读这个，别读那个。”我读了不少（以如今的标准衡量）堪称精神垃圾食品的内容。

Read what you love until you love to read.
读你所爱，直至爱上阅读。

You almost have to read the stuff you’re reading, because you’re into it. You don’t need any other reason. There’s no mission here to accomplish. Just read because you enjoy it.
你之所以读手头这些内容，几乎纯粹是出于兴趣。无需其他理由，也没有什么目标要达成，读就是了，乐在其中嘛。

These days, I find myself rereading as much (or more) as I do reading. A tweet from @illacertus said, “I don’t want to read everything. I just want to read the 100 great books over and over again.” I think there’s a lot to that idea. It’s really more about identifying the great books for you because different books speak to different people. Then, you can really absorb those.
如今，我发觉自己重读的频率与新读相当（甚至更高）。@illacertus 曾发推文称：“我无意遍览群书，只想反复研读那 100 本经典之作。”我觉得这一观点很有见地。其实，重点在于找到适合自己的经典书籍，毕竟不同的人会对不同的书籍有所感悟。如此，你便能真正领悟书中精髓。

Reading a book isn’t a race—the better the book, the more slowly it should be absorbed.
读书并非赛跑，书越好，越需慢慢品味。

I don’t know about you, but I have very poor attention. I skim. I speed read. I jump around. I could not tell you specific passages or quotes from books. At some deep level, you absorb them, and they become threads in the tapestry of your psyche. They kind of weave in there.
我不知道你是什么情况，但我注意力特别不集中。看书时我会略读、速读，还会跳着读。我没法说出书中具体的段落或语句。但在某种深层意义上，你其实吸收了它们，它们融入你的心灵，成为其中的一部分。

I’m sure you’ve had this feeling where you pick up a book and start reading it, and you’re like, “This is pretty interesting. This is pretty good.” You’re getting this increasing sense of deja vu. Then halfway through the book, you realize, “I’ve read this book before.” That’s perfectly fine. It means you were ready to reread it. [4]
我肯定你有过这种体验：拿起一本书开始读，心里想着，“这挺有意思，写得挺好。” 你愈发觉得似曾相识。读到一半，你才意识到：“我以前读过这本书。” 这没什么大不了的，说明你已经准备好重温它了。[4]

I don’t actually read a lot of books. I pick up a lot of books and only get through a few which form the foundation of my knowledge.
其实我读的书不算多。我会拿起很多书，但真正读完的只有几本，而这几本书奠定了我知识的基础。

The reality is, I don’t actually read much compared to what people think. I probably read one to two hours a day. That puts me in the top .00001 percent. I think that alone accounts for any material success I’ve had in my life and any intelligence I might have. Real people don’t read an hour a day. Real people, I think, read a minute a day or less. Making it an actual habit is the most important thing.
事实上，和大家想象的不同，我读的书其实没那么多。我大概每天读一两个小时，这已经让我跻身前 0.00001% 的阅读人群了。我觉得，我这辈子取得的那些实际成就，还有我这点儿智慧，都要归功于阅读。普通人一天读不了一小时，我觉得他们一天也就读一分钟，甚至更少。真正养成阅读习惯，才是最重要的。

It almost doesn’t matter what you read. Eventually, you will read enough things (and your interests will lead you there) that it will dramatically improve your life. Just like the best workout for you is one you’re excited enough to do every day, I would say for books, blogs, tweets, or whatever—anything with ideas and information and learning—the best ones to read are the ones you’re excited about reading all the time. [4]
读什么其实无关紧要。最终，你会读到足够多的内容（兴趣会引导你去读），这会显著提升你的生活质量。就好比对你而言，最好的锻炼方式，是那种你每天都兴致勃勃去做的锻炼；同理，无论是书籍、博客、推文，还是其他任何包含思想、信息与知识的内容，最好的读物，就是那些你始终迫不及待想要阅读的东西。[4]

“As long as I have a book in my hand, I don’t feel like I’m wasting time.”
只要手里拿着一本书，我就不觉得自己是在虚度光阴。

—Charlie Munger
—查理·芒格

Everyone’s brain works differently. Some people love to take notes. Actually, my notetaking is Twitter. I read and read and read. If I have some fundamental “ah-ha” insight or concept, Twitter forces me to distill it into a few characters. Then I try and put it out there as an aphorism. Then I get attacked by random people who point out all kinds of obvious exceptions and jump down my throat. Then I think, “Why did I do this again?” [4]
每个人的大脑运作方式各异。有些人喜欢记笔记，而我则习惯在推特上记录。我不断阅读，一旦有了某些具有根本性的 “顿悟” 或想法，推特就会促使我把它们浓缩成简短的文字，然后以格言的形式发布出去。随即，会有一些陌生人对我发起攻击，指出各种显而易见的例外情况，对我穷追猛批。这时我就会琢磨：“我怎么又干这种事了呢？” [4]

Pointing out obvious exceptions implies either the target isn’t smart or you aren’t.
指出明显的例外，要么说明目标对象不聪明，要么说明你自己不聪明。

When you first pick up a book, are you skimming for something interesting? How do you go about reading it? Do you just flip to a random page and start reading? What’s your process?
当你初次拿起一本书，会先浏览寻找感兴趣的内容吗？你是怎么阅读的？是随意翻到某一页就开始读吗？你阅读的流程是怎样的？

I’ll start at the beginning, but I’ll move fast. If it’s not interesting, I’ll just start flipping ahead, skimming, or speed reading. If it doesn’t grab my attention within the first chapter in a meaningful, positive way, I’ll either drop the book or skip ahead a few chapters.
我会从开头读起，但节奏会很快。要是内容没意思，我就直接往后翻，浏览一下或者快速读完。要是第一章都没能切实且正面地吸引我，我要么就不读这本书了，要么就往后跳几章。

I don’t believe in delayed gratification when there are an infinite number of books out there to read. There are so many great books.
既然世上有无数书籍可读，我可不相信什么延迟满足。好书实在太多了。

The number of books completed is a vanity metric. As you know more, you leave more books unfinished. Focus on new concepts with predictive power.
读完书的数量只是个虚荣指标。随着认知增长，你会有更多没读完的书。应聚焦于具有预测能力的新概念。

Generally, I’ll skim. I’ll fast forward. I’ll try and find a part to catch my attention. Most books have one point to make. (Obviously, this is nonfiction. I’m not talking about fiction.) They have one point to make, they make it, and then they give you example after example after example after example, and they apply it to explain everything in the world. Once I feel like I’ve gotten the gist, I feel very comfortable putting the book down. There’s a lot of these, what I would call pseudoscience bestsellers…People are like, “Oh, did you read this book?” I always say yes, but the reality is I read maybe two chapters of it. I got the gist.
一般来讲，我会略读，快速浏览，试着找能吸引我注意的部分。大多数非虚构类书籍都旨在传达一个核心观点。阐述完这个观点后，作者就会列举大量例子，用它们来解释世间万象。一旦我领会了核心要点，就会毫不犹豫地放下书。市面上有很多所谓的伪科学畅销书……总有人问我：“你读过这本书吗？”我通常会回答读过，可实际上可能只读了两章，因为我已经掌握了核心内容。

If they wrote it to make money, don’t read it.
如果作者写书是为了赚钱，那就别读。

What practices do you follow to internalize/organize information from reading books?
你会采用哪些方法，将从阅读书籍中获取的信息进行内化和整理？

Explain what you learned to someone else. Teaching forces learning.
把你学到的东西讲给别人听。教学相长。

It’s not about “educated” vs. “uneducated.” It’s about “likes to read” and “doesn’t like to read.”
这无关“受过教育”还是“没受过教育”，关键在于“爱读书”与“不爱读书”。

What can I do for the next sixty days to become a clearer, more independent thinker?
未来六十天，我要怎么做，才能让思维更清晰、更独立？

Read the greats in math, science, and philosophy. Ignore your contemporaries and news. Avoid tribal identification. Put truth above social approval. [11]
研读数学、科学及哲学领域的经典之作，别理会同时代的人和新闻消息，避免陷入群体认同，把追求真理看得比获得社会认可更重要。[11]

Study logic and math, because once you’ve mastered them, you won’t fear any book.
学习逻辑与数学，因为一旦掌握，便无惧任何书籍。

No book in the library should scare you. Whether it’s a math, physics, electrical engineering, sociology, or economics book. You should be able to take any book down off the shelf and read it. A number of them are going to be too difficult for you. That’s okay—read them anyway. Then go back and reread them and reread them.
图书馆里没有哪本书能吓住你。不管是数学、物理、电气工程、社会学还是经济学的书籍，你都应能从书架上取下阅读。其中一些书对你来说可能太难，但无妨，尽管去读。读完后再反复研读。

When you’re reading a book and you’re confused, that confusion is similar to the pain you get in the gym when you’re working out. But you’re building mental muscles instead of physical muscles. Learn how to learn and read the books.
当你读书遇到困惑时，这种困惑就如同在健身房锻炼时的那种酸痛感。只不过，你锻炼的是脑力，而非体力。要学会如何学习，学会读书。

The problem with saying “just read” is there is so much junk out there. There are as many different kinds of authors as there are people. Many of them are going to write lots of junk.
说“只管去读”存在一个问题，那就是市面上垃圾内容太多。作者和人一样形形色色，其中很多人会写出大量垃圾内容。

I have people in my life I consider to be very well-read who aren’t very smart. The reason is because even though they’re very well-read, they read the wrong things in the wrong order. They started out reading a set of false or just weakly true things, and those formed the axioms of the foundation for their worldview. Then, when new things come, they judge the new idea based on a foundation they already built. Your foundation is critical.
我生活中有这样一些人，在我看来，他们饱读诗书，却并非聪慧过人。究其原因，尽管他们读书多，但读的内容不对，阅读顺序也有误。他们一开始接触的是一些错误或不太正确的内容，这些内容构成了他们世界观的基本公理。之后，当新事物出现时，他们会依据已有的认知基础来评判新观点。可见，基础至关重要。

Because most people are intimidated by math and can’t independently critique it, they overvalue opinions backed with math/pseudoscience.
由于多数人对数学心存畏惧，且无法独立对其进行评判，因此他们高估了那些有数学依据或打着数学幌子的观点。

When it comes to reading, make sure your foundation is very, very high quality.
谈及阅读，务必保证你的基础极为扎实。

The best way to have a high-quality foundation (you may not love this answer), but the trick is to stick to science and to stick to the basics. Generally, there are only a few things you can read people don’t disagree with. Very few people disagree 2+2=4, right? That is serious knowledge. Mathematics is a solid foundation.
拥有高质量知识基础的最佳办法（你可能不太喜欢这个答案），诀窍在于遵循科学，打好基础。通常，只有很少的内容是大家都认同的。很少有人会反对 2 加 2 等于 4，对吧？这就是真正的知识。数学就是坚实的知识基础。

Similarly, the hard sciences are a solid foundation. Microeconomics is a solid foundation. The moment you start wandering outside of these solid foundations you’re in trouble because now you don’t know what’s true and what’s false. I would focus as much as I could on having solid foundations.
同样，自然科学是坚实的基础，微观经济学也是。一旦偏离这些坚实基础，你就会陷入困境，因为你无法分辨真假。我会尽可能专注于筑牢这些坚实基础。

It’s better to be really great at arithmetic and geometry than to be deep into advanced mathematics. I would read microeconomics all day long—Microeconomics 101.
精通算术和几何，比深入钻研高等数学更好。我愿意整天研读《微观经济学 101》这类基础微观经济学著作。

Another way to do this is to read originals and read classics. If you’re interested in evolution, read Charles Darwin. Don’t begin with Richard Dawkins (even though I think he’s great). Read him later; read Darwin first.
另一种做法是阅读原著和经典之作。要是你对进化论感兴趣，就去读查尔斯·达尔文的著作。别从理查德·道金斯的书入手（虽说我觉得他很出色）。稍后再读他的，先读达尔文的。

If you want to learn macroeconomics, first read Adam Smith, read von Mises, or read Hayek. Start with the original philosophers of the economy. If you’re into communist or socialist ideas (which I’m personally not), start by reading Karl Marx. Don’t read the current interpretation someone is feeding you about how things should be done and run.
若你想学习宏观经济学，先读一读亚当·斯密、米塞斯或者哈耶克的著作，从经济学领域的开山哲人们读起。要是你对共产主义或社会主义思想感兴趣（我个人对此并无兴趣），那就从研读卡尔·马克思的著作入手。别去看当下别人给你灌输的关于行事方法与运作模式的解读。

If you start with the originals as your foundations, then you have enough of a worldview and understanding that you won’t fear any book. Then you can just learn. If you’re a perpetual learning machine, you will never be out of options for how to make money. You can always see what’s coming up in society, what the value is, where the demand is, and you can learn to come up to speed. [74]
若你以经典原著为根基，便会形成足够的世界观与认知，面对任何书籍都无所畏惧，只管潜心学习即可。倘若你是一台永不停歇的学习机器，赚钱的门道自然不会少。你总能洞察社会的发展趋势、价值所在以及需求方向，进而通过学习跟上时代步伐。[74]

To think clearly, understand the basics. If you’re memorizing advanced concepts without being able to re-derive them as needed, you’re lost.
若想思路清晰，需弄懂基础原理。要是你只会死记硬背高级概念，却无法在必要时自行推导，那可就误入歧途了。

We’re now in a day and age of Twitter and Facebook. We’re getting bite-sized, pithy wisdom, which is really hard to absorb. Books are very difficult to read as a modern person because we’ve been trained. We have two contradictory pieces of training:
如今，我们身处推特和脸书盛行的时代。获取的智慧虽简短精炼，却着实难以吸收。作为现代人，读书变得极为困难，因为我们接受了两种相互矛盾的训练：

One is our attention span has gone through the floor because we’re hit with so much information all the time. We want to skip, summarize, and cut to the chase.
其一，由于我们时刻都被海量信息轰炸，注意力时长已大幅下降。我们只想跳过冗余、进行总结，直接切入重点。

Twitter has made me a worse reader but a much better writer.
推特让我阅读水平下降，写作水平却大幅提升。

On the other hand, we’re also taught from a young age to finish your books. Books are sacred—when you go to school and you’re assigned to read a book, you have to finish the book. Over time, we forget how to read books. Everyone I know is stuck on some book.
另一方面，我们从小就被教导要把书读完。书是神圣的，上学时要是被安排读一本书，那就必须读完。久而久之，我们反倒忘了该怎么读书。我认识的人都在为某本书犯愁。

I’m sure you’re stuck on something right now—it’s page 332, you can’t go any further, but you know you should finish the book. So what do you do? You give up reading books for a while.
我敢肯定你此刻正被某件事难住——就好比读到第 332 页，再也读不下去了，可心里又明白得把书读完。那你会怎么做呢？你会暂时放下读书这件事。

For me, giving up reading was a tragedy. I grew up on books, then I switched to blogs, then I switched to Twitter and Facebook, and I realized I wasn’t actually learning anything. I was just taking little dopamine snacks all day long. I was getting my little 140-character burst of dopamine. I would Tweet, then look to see who retweeted my Tweet. It’s a fun and wonderful thing, but it’s a game I was playing.
对我而言，放弃阅读犹如一场悲剧。我自幼与书为伴，后来转而看博客，接着又沉迷于推特和脸书，可我渐渐发觉，自己并未真正学到什么。一整天下来，我不过是在寻求短暂的多巴胺刺激，每次不过是短短 140 字的内容带来的兴奋。我发完推文，就等着看谁会转发。这固然有趣又美妙，但说到底，不过是我在玩的一场游戏罢了。

I realized I had to go back to reading books. [6]
我意识到自己得重新开始读书了。[6]

I knew it was a very hard problem because my brain had now been trained to spend time on Facebook, Twitter, and these other bite-sized pieces.
我知道这是个难题，因为我的大脑已习惯在脸书、推特这类平台上消磨时间，接触的都是碎片化信息。

I came up with this hack where I started treating books as throwaway blog posts or bite-sized tweets or posts. I felt no obligation to finish any book. Now, when someone mentions a book to me, I buy it. At any given time, I’m reading somewhere between ten and twenty books. I’m flipping through them.
我想到个办法，把书当作一次性的博客文章、简短推文或帖子来看待。我觉得没必要非得读完某本书。现在，只要有人跟我提起一本书，我就会买下来。我随时都同时在读十到二十本书，翻着看。

If the book is getting a little boring, I’ll skip ahead. Sometimes, I start reading a book in the middle because some paragraph caught my eye. I’ll just continue from there, and I feel no obligation whatsoever to finish the book. All of a sudden, books are back into my reading library. That’s great, because there is ancient wisdom in books. [6]
如果一本书读着有点乏味，我就会跳着读。有时候，我会因为某一段落吸引了我，就从书的中间开始读起，接着往后读，也不觉得非得把整本书读完不可。突然间，我又开始读书了。这很好，因为书中有古人的智慧。[6]

When solving problems: the older the problem, the older the solution.
解决问题时要记住：问题存在的时间越久，其解决方案也越古老。

If you’re trying to learn how to drive a car or fly a plane, you should read something written in the modern age because this problem was created in the modern age and the solution is great in the modern age.
要是你想学开车或开飞机，就该读些现代写的内容，因为这问题是现代才有的，而且现代的解决办法很出色。

If you’re talking about an old problem like how to keep your body healthy, how to stay calm and peaceful, what kinds of value systems are good, how you raise a family, and those kinds of things, the older solutions are probably better.
要是你聊的是诸如如何保持身体健康、如何内心平静安宁、何种价值体系为佳、怎样经营家庭等这类老问题，或许老办法反而更管用。

Any book that survived for two thousand years has been filtered through many people. The general principles are more likely to be correct. I wanted to get back into reading these sorts of books. [6]
任何一本流传两千年的书，都历经无数人筛选，其中的普遍原则更有可能是正确的。我想重拾对这类书籍的阅读。[6]

You know that song you can’t get out of your head? All thoughts work that way. Careful what you read.
你知道那种萦绕在脑海、怎么也甩不掉的歌吧？其实所有念头都是如此。所以，对阅读内容可得慎重。

A calm mind, a fit body, and a house full of love.
内心平静，身体健康，家庭满是爱意。

These things cannot be bought.
这些东西无法用钱买到。

They must be earned.
它们必须靠努力去获得。