A few weeks ago, I found myself taken aback by the strange and rough behavior of a medical practitioner(行医者). For the first time that I could remember, I had missed an appointment, and she called to berate me. Yes, it was my fault, but I think I subconsciously avoided the appointment due to the aggressive communication we had had thus far.

I had a sense of what I was getting into when I chose to go with her — I was warned about her bedside manner — but she came, highly recommended by multiple people, and I did not have the energy to keep looking for other options. So I went with her and made myself ready for the journey.

But I was not prepared. She screamed at me for minutes on end, as I sat there, unable to get a word in, feeling terribly guilty and ashamed of the missed appointment and having wasted her time. There was no calm talk about paying for the missed appointment.

After the phone call, I felt terrible. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and that everyone we meet comes into our lives for a reason.

A week or so later, after telling a friend about the event, I was blessed with this insight: This woman’s attacking voice was familiar, and it was personified and strengthened by my harsh(刺耳的), critical inner voice. My friend helped me see what a blessing this encounter was. If I could see my inner critic as this woman with her associated foolish behaviour, I would not allow myself to buy into it.

I remember I once read an article which says that when we look at the behavior of others, we are looking at a mirror. According to the “Mirror Theory”, when we observe character defects(缺点) in other people, we are really seeing the undeveloped and unresolved parts of our personality. With this in mind, not only do I need to examine how I view and treat myself, but also other people. So eventually, my encounter with this practitioner was for the best.

You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade you to “write between the lines." Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.

I insist, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of damage but of love.

There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the first step to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. I am arguing that books must be absorbed in your bloodstream to do you any good.

Why is marking up a book necessary to reading? First, it keeps you awake. (And I don't mean only conscious; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is thinking and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed.

But, you may ask, why is writing necessary? Well, the physical act of writing, with your own hand, brings words and sentences more sharply before your mind and preserves them better in your memory. To set down your reaction to important words and sentences you have read, and the questions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharpen those questions.

If reading is to accomplish anything more than passing time, it must be active. You can't let your eyes glide across the lines in a book and come up with an understanding of what you have read. The books you read for pleasure can be read in a state of relaxation, and nothing is lost. An ordinary piece of light fiction, like "Gone with the Wind," doesn't require the most active kind of reading, and you don't absorb the ideas of John Dewey the way you absorb the story of David Copperfield.

You may also say that this business of marking books is going to slow up your reading. It probably will. That's one of the reasons for doing it. Most of us have been taken in by the notion that speed of reading is a measure of our intelligence. There is no such things as the right speed for intelligent reading. Some things should be read quickly and effortlessly, and some should be read slowly and even laboriously. The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things differently according to their worth. In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through you — how many you can make your own. A few friends are better than a thousand acquaintances. If this be your aim, as it should be, you will not be impatient if it takes more time and effort to read a great book than it does a newspaper.

I must have been about fourteen then, Carl Walter was my piano teacher. 【小题1】 I said three or four hours a day. He then suggested. “When you grow up, time won’t come in long periods. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life.”

When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but class periods and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. 【小题2】 And my excuse was that I had no time.

Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. 【小题3】 Later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal (碎片时间) method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were idle moments which could be caught and put to use.

【小题4】 I found that the small piece meals of the day provided enough time for both writing and piano practice.

There is an important trick in this time-using method: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing, you can’t afford to waste four chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task immediately when the time comes. 【小题5】 Carl Walter has greatly affected my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I start work without delay.