Before the discussion, I would like to divide the books of the world into different categories. I've done it roughly, I haven't studied it carefully. There are roughly four kinds of books in the world. One is technical. Technical books are for everyone to read, because to get a job, to survive. Such books can be as small as Instruction manuals and how-to guides. If you buy a home appliance, it comes with instructions or instructions. If you are majoring in computer applications, the textbook you will be reading is actually a manual, which is essentially a book like this. If you study a technical subject, you will be faced with a number of "how-to guides", each one representing a course. Books like this are of the first kind. The second category is academic research books, which are books written by theorists. The third category, entertaining books. Reading this kind of book is for pleasure. Lying in bed, or in the bathroom -- if that's what the habit is. There are also many such books on the floor. When we were bored on the journey, some of us held a copy of Heidegger's Being and Time, and some of us held a copy of Chinese Legal Literature. Chinese Legal Literature was generally entertaining. The fourth category is the books of thought. These categories are not necessarily strict, because some of them overlap, and some of the books that fit into several categories, entertaining and thoughtful at the same time, are the best books. Sometimes when I read Schopenhauer's philosophical works, I think they are thoughtful books and entertaining books. It is a pleasure to read them. Of course, this is to have the accumulation of reading will reach such a feeling. The above classification is not strict, but it is certain that the first category will not overlap with the latter three. You can't expect to find anything thoughtful, entertaining, or scholarly in a how-to technical book. Then we divide these four into two categories: those that are real books and those that are not. You can't call a how-to book a real book, and you can't call an academic book a real book. Why? A how-to book is only meaningful if you need to do it, otherwise why read it? What's the point of giving me several guides to refrigerators if I can't afford them at all? In addition, academic research is the communication and even competition between professional peers in a certain field, and you are not in this line, why do you read it?

You don't have to judge which expert is more expert or accomplished. So, these are books for a very small number of people. Like when I write an article, I know only two people read it, one is the editor and one is me. Do you call these things like books? They are not books. However, they are always called books because of the convention. The third and fourth of these four categories I call real books. We want to give them the status of a real book. Why are they real books? Because they are books that belong to everyone. But now I have another word to say, which is that the first two categories, though not real books, are "required reading." Why? You have to read, life is forced. How-to guides, you always read one or two, you haven't read several how-to guides, have you ever gotten a diploma? Can you find a job without a diploma? That's what life is about. The second category is also forced by life. Academic research, and now careers. We are long gone from the days in which we might be aristocrats, rich in wealth, where it was natural for us to spend our lives alone, wandering, thinking, even thinking, and writing great works for the world. There, no one counts your publications for a job title. Today's academic works are mostly written under the pressure of professional life. So, I also call it "forced by life". If you want to write academic books, you have to read other people's academic books first. Therefore, academic books are also required reading for this kind of people. So the first and second categories, though not really books, are just required reading.

Before the discussion, I would like to divide the books of the world into different categories. I've done it roughly, I haven't studied it carefully. There are roughly four kinds of books in the world. One is technical. Technical books are for everyone to read, because to get a job, to survive. Such books can be as small as Instruction manuals and how-to guides. If you buy a home appliance, it comes with instructions or instructions. If you are majoring in computer applications, the textbook you will be reading is actually a manual, which is essentially a book like this. If you study a technical subject, you will be faced with a number of "how-to guides", each one representing a course. Books like this are of the first kind. The second category is academic research books, which are books written by theorists. The third category, entertaining books. Reading this kind of book is for pleasure. Lying in bed, or in the bathroom -- if that's what the habit is. There are also many such books on the floor. When we were bored on the journey, some of us held a copy of Heidegger's Being and Time, and some of us held a copy of Chinese Legal Literature. Chinese Legal Literature was generally entertaining. The fourth category is the books of thought. These categories are not necessarily strict, because some of them overlap, and some of the books that fit into several categories, entertaining and thoughtful at the same time, are the best books. Sometimes when I read Schopenhauer's philosophical works, I think they are thoughtful books and entertaining books. It is a pleasure to read them. Of course, this is to have the accumulation of reading will reach such a feeling. The above classification is not strict, but it is certain that the first category will not overlap with the latter three. You can't expect to find anything thoughtful, entertaining, or scholarly in a how-to technical book. Then we divide these four into two categories: those that are real books and those that are not. You can't call a how-to book a real book, and you can't call an academic book a real book. Why? A how-to book is only meaningful if you need to do it, otherwise why read it? What's the point of giving me several guides to refrigerators if I can't afford them at all? In addition, academic research is the communication and even competition between professional peers in a certain field, and you are not in this line, why do you read it?

You don't have to judge which expert is more expert or accomplished. So, these are books for a very small number of people. Like when I write an article, I know only two people read it, one is the editor and one is me. Do you call these things like books? They are not books. However, they are always called books because of the convention. The third and fourth of these four categories I call real books. We want to give them the status of a real book. Why are they real books? Because they are books that belong to everyone. But now I have another word to say, which is that the first two categories, though not real books, are "required reading." Why? You have to read, life is forced. How-to guides, you always read one or two, you haven't read several how-to guides, have you ever gotten a diploma? Can you find a job without a diploma? That's what life is about. The second category is also forced by life. Academic research, and now careers. We are long gone from the days in which we might be aristocrats, rich in wealth, where it was natural for us to spend our lives alone, wandering, thinking, even thinking, and writing great works for the world. There, no one counts your publications for a job title. Today's academic works are mostly written under the pressure of professional life. So, I also call it "forced by life". If you want to write academic books, you have to read other people's academic books first. Therefore, academic books are also required reading for this kind of people. So the first and second categories, though not really books, are just required reading.