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Reader | Group | Book Title | Book Author | Book review or favorite quotes |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 | Cho Nam-joo (Author), Jamie Chang (Translator) | The painful depiction of what a Korean woman (in a way, all Asian women) go through feels all too familiar, yet at the same time it did not resonate fully with me, partly because, as an Asian male, real sympathy would require real experience, and partly because of a constant subconscious push-back: “Come on, this can’t be true.” Do I feel guilty, ashamed, or shocked by the vivid details of misogyny described in the book? I don’t know. Privilege always breeds unawareness. It simply never occurred to me that taking a late-night taxi could be a problem. It never occurred to me that walking through the back alley of our primary school could become a lifelong trauma because there was a pervert hidden somewhere. It never occurred to me how extremely uncomfortable it is to be surrounded by men making sexist jokes at a dinner table. Would greater awareness lead to any change? Again, I don’t know. But talking about these things, I suppose, is the first step toward making Asian men realize where the problems lie. |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | 全員玉碎! | 水木茂（作者） 酒吞童子（译） | 《全员玉碎》（英译本为Onward towards our noble deaths)是水木茂特别有名的一部反战漫画，画的是战争后期南太平洋日军的覆灭。作为战争亲历者，水木茂对中下层日本士兵卷入玉碎作战的描写，充满了情绪渲染和细节捕捉，跟后世的反战漫画相比，第一人称观察者的认知，实在是很难得。漫画后半段，大量中下级士兵的（被迫）自杀，是长期污名化俘虏的所谓气节教育的恶之花（这点在东亚文化中是极为共通的），作者在这里充满着对人的同情，和对战争的厌恶。 漫画结尾处，军医在面临军事审判时，喃喃自语：“军队这种东西，对人类而言，本身就是一种病态的存在。”这句话在漫画里出现，平地一声惊雷。之后反复出现相似的质问：“我们到底是为何而战？“”到底是为了什么而玉碎？“”又是为了什么而自杀呢？“这样的文学呈现，当然是作者有意为之，但是时光轮转到八十年后的今天，这些问题仍然可以抛给那些动辄把战争挂在嘴上的后来人。 |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel | Margaret Atwood, Renée Nault (Adapter, Artist) | This is another real find at DKU library’s comics section. I never read the original novel, so the story was entirely new to me. Its dystopian world, and the way society regresses and collapses into it, echoes elements of Nazi Germany and several post-war totalitarian regimes. The artwork is stunning and deeply enhances the narrative. I’ve seen quite a few graphic-novel adaptations recently, but the visuals in this one are on an entirely different level. After finishing it, I happened to find a Chinese translation (published earlier this year) in a local library, which is also excellently done. It’s always fascinating to read two versions of the same graphic work side by side and notice which images are left intact, which are altered, and which are sometimes redrawn. This adaptation has convinced me to go back and read the original novel. |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | 流俗地 | 黎紫书 | 说来也巧，去年在北方出差，偶然买到这本关于南方的小说。第一次读完马华文学里的长篇，在东南亚生活了六年，对海峡华人和他们的历史有了切近但又浅薄的了解，所以对故事里的有些场景竟也能共情。写的是怡保的市井生活，却又让我想起童年的场景，好的故事总是似曾相识。 马华文学里绕不开种族议题，但是作者对政治和身份议题保持了最大的克制。过去的半个世纪，马来西亚的族群结构发生了巨大的变化，书中华人视角的锡都往事，恐怕很难在未来复现，但是这一串市井故事的意义，大概不仅仅是怀旧叙事，它记录了华人社群一种正在消失的可能性。 |
| Liuchun Deng | Faculty | Blankets | Craig Thompson | I first read Thompson’s travelogue about his trip to Morocco. The book is decently drawn, and I enjoyed his occasional whimsy and moments of melancholy. Since then, Blankets has always been on my reading list, and to my surprise, I found a copy at the Shanghai Library. I’m not usually drawn to stories about adolescence or young love, but this book is a masterpiece. Its complex, intertwined exploration of religion, love, and childhood trauma is deeply moving. Although I grew up in a completely different cultural context, the story never feels distant. There are many moments I can relate to. It is a beautiful work that everyone should read. |
| Andrew Y. Lee | Faculty | 谁都不正常：污名、同情与精神疾病的终结 (Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness) | 罗伊·理查德·格林克 (Roy Richard Grinker) | 这本书记述了人类学家罗伊·理查德·格林克对精神疾病所做的一个跨文化，跨学科，和跨历史阶段的研究。“正常“和“不正常”的概念都是由文化建构的。不同文化对“正常”和“不正常”的概念可能会有不同的解释和界定，但是把“不正常”的人群排除在主流社会之外这一点上却是出奇的一致。而精神病人则是最具代表性的一群“不正常”的人。我们的社会不仅把精神疾病看成是一种疾病，而且会认为患有精神疾病的人有人格缺陷，进而对他们进行道德评判，甚至施行各种惩罚。 作者认为“正常”与“不正常”的二元对立，在很大程度上是现代社会设定的一个理想化的标准，任何偏离这一标准的行为、情感或思维方式都可能被病理化，并被打上耻辱的烙印。但是我们应该意识到，我们绝大多数人实际上都有各种不同程度的精神困扰或者精神病态。这不是有无的问题而是多少的问题。是程度的问题。作者为此发出了一个振聋发聩的宣言：“谁都不正常，谁都不应该感到羞耻“。 本书还提出了一个重要观点：阻碍精神病人康复和回归社会的一个重大障碍就是对精神疾病患者的污名化，以及污名化给他们带来的耻辱感。而污名现象并不是我们与生俱来的生理机制，而是社会与文化建构的。既然如此，我们也可以赋予自己放弃它的权利。如果污名化某些特定人群并不是我们人类的天性，那么我们就可以改变它。而培养一种普遍的“共情”能力则是做出改变的第一步。当我们真正理解每个人的内心都可能经历各种 精神困扰，每个人的心智运作方式都独一无二时，“正常”与“不正常”的界限便开始消融。 |
| Anonymous | Faculty | The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power | Shoshana Zuboff | Ever wonder why an ad for running shoes shows up right after you casually mention jogging to a friend? Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism unpacks the systems behind moments like that. Zuboff argues that companies like Google and Facebook have built a new kind of business model: they collect our online behavior, where every click, search, hesitation, and scroll, is turning into predictions about what we’ll do next. Those predictions are then sold to advertisers hoping to shape our choices. The unsettling twist is that we’re not the customers in this setup. We’re the raw material. Zuboff traces how this model grew quietly, without most of us noticing or consenting, and how it’s now reshaping not only markets but democracy, personal autonomy, and even our sense of what it means to be human in a digital world. It’s a dense but urgent wake-up call, pushing us to think more carefully about what we’ve traded away for the convenience of “free” services before the cost becomes impossible to ignore. |
| Anonymous | Faculty | 我用中文做了场梦 | Alessandro Ceschi | This book has several layers of fascination for someone who studied, worked, and lived in a foreign country, and who is now living in a multicultural multilingual environment. The author Ale was born in Italy and wrote this book in Chinese, narrating and contemplating his experiences of coming to China and staying in China for 6 years. Compared with writers who share similar experiences, Ale is almost intentionally playing with the “foreign gaze” that is quite inevitably circumscribing his point of view so that his identity as a foreign/老外 is superimposed on a more universal positioning of an outsider (外地人，外省人，外人) in a philosophical manner. His simple yet vivid description of events resonates powerfully with people who have experienced the alienation on any level, and thereby gently challenges the concept of “preferential treatment of white men” in China. One thing that is quite clear to readers is that he does not attempt to interpret China from a foreign observer’s point of view; instead, he attempts to position people within their environment and treat them as individuals, not as “Chinese people” who are invariably expected to share some kind of “Chineseness’. Lastly, Ale’s Chinese use is impressive! |
| Anonymous | Faculty | The Year of Magical Thinking | Joan Didion | This is a book about (sudden) loss of loved ones and coming to terms with losses. Joan Didion, in her own unique style of seeming detached writing, pierced the wall that separates life and death forever, by wanting time to pass slowly, so slowly that it stays on the day when her husband dies suddenly. I felt deeply conflicted by recommending this book, partly because it is about death and loss and grief, and partly because Didion’s style of aloofness and cool, even when writing about the loss of the love of her life. But, is there only one way to write about loss and pain? I hope the answer that we can all come up with is NO. Then why cannot someone write it in the way that seems most real, authentic, and right to them? This book, on a very fundamental level, challenges readers to think deeply about their own expectations and perceptions on writing. Below is one of my favorite quotes from this book: “We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be at all.” |
| Anonymous | Faculty | The Epic of Gilgamesh | George, A. R., translator | The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic from ancient Mesopotamia, and I read it in Sandars’ translation published in 1960. There are different translations based on what surviving tablets were decoded. Apart from the adventures of Gilgamesh, what is powerfully conveyed in this epic is the portray of friendship, ambition, and heroism. Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s seemingly impossible friendship and Gilgamesh’s heart-wrenching grief on Enkidu’s death are among some of the most memorable things in this ancient epic. When readers get past the initial anxiety of reading something this ancient, this removed from their own cultural background, they will discover that Gilgamesh is so reminiscent of people they know in their life that they can relate to his humanity, his ambition, and his decisions. This is not a very long poem, and I recommend it highly. |
| Anonymous | Faculty | Dive into Deep Learning | Aston Zhang,Zachary Lipton | I would call the PyTorch edition of Dive into Deep Learning the best introductory book for math majors transitioning to AI—it perfectly addresses the gap in coding proficiency that many math students face. |
| Anonymous | Graduate student | Stoner | John Williams | It’s an introvert and quiet book. |
| Anonymous | Staff | 三体 | 刘慈欣 | 不要回答 不要回答 不要回答 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 世说新语 | 刘义庆 | 以非常有趣味的笔触体现了中国魏晋时期社会、思想、文化哲学的各个方面。”雅量”篇和”容止”篇特别可爱，有古文难得的活泼、自然和写实，易读且回味深长 |
| Xin Sui | Staff | 两京十五日 | 马伯庸 | 这些袭击者的布局，竟然缜密到了这个地步，真是无比坚决的杀意啊 |
| PengCheng Tan | Staff | 五堂极简生物课 | 【英】保罗·纳斯 | 在我们身边，生命无处不在。但是，生命——活着——究竟意味着什么呢？在本书中，诺贝尔奖得主保罗·纳斯爵士尝试用每个读者都能理解的方式定义生命。他带着动人的谦逊，清晰阐明了五个堪称生物学支点的重要概念：细胞、基因、自然选择的进化、生命的化学、生命的信息，带我们理解生命的复杂与奇妙，了解生物学的发展与演进，体会人类与所有生命的信息相关。 Around us, life is everywhere. But what does it really mean to be alive? In this book, Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse attempts to define life in a way that every reader can understand. With moving humility, he clearly elucidates five key concepts that serve as the bedrock principles of biology: the cell, the gene, evolution by natural selection, life as chemistry, and life as information. He guides us to understand the complexity and wonder of life, to learn about the development and evolution of biology, and to appreciate how profoundly interconnected humanity is with all living things. |
| Anonymous | Staff | To Kill a Mocking Bird | Harper Lee | 我想让你见识一下什么是真正的勇敢，而不要错误地认为一个人手握枪支就是勇敢。勇敢是：当你还未开始就已知道自己会输，可你依然要去做，而且无论如何都要把它坚持到底。你很少能赢，但有时也会。——Page 138 |
| Anonymous | Staff | Autobiography | John Stuart Mill | “Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way. The enjoyments of life (such was now my theory) are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing, when they are taken en passant, without being made a principal object. Once make them so, and they are immediately felt to be insufficient. They will not bear a scrutinizing examination. Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so. The only chance is to treat, not happiness, but some end external to it, as the purpose of life. Let your self-consciousness, your scrutiny, your self-interrogation, exhaust themselves on that; and if otherwise fortunately circumstanced you will inhale happiness with the air you breathe, without dwelling on it or thinking about it, without either forestalling it in imagination, or putting it to flight by fatal questioning.” |
| Anonymous | Staff | 数字博物馆 | 【意大利】皮耶尔乔治·奥迪弗雷迪 | 以数字的方式了解数字，从零到无穷，不同的数字，与之前从未想过的方式了解数字 |
| 太好吃了 | Staff | 喀耳刻 | Madeline Miller | 这是一个让神话脱离英雄史诗的故事：不再关于征服与拯救，而是关于内在的成长与觉醒。她的力量不源自出身、血统或父权的恩赐，而是来自孤独的练习与坚定的意志。最终，她选择把永恒而空洞的不朽置换成有限、有风险、能改变的凡人生命，这是她真正的自由。 |
| F | Staff | Animal Farm | George Orwell | Through the simple narrative and symbolic characters, Orwell illustrates the mechanisms of authoritarianism: the distortion of truth, the erosion of principles, and the emergence of a ruling elite who exploit others in the name of the “common good.” Animal Farm ultimately warns that without accountability and transparency, even the most noble movements can devolve into new forms of tyranny. Its enduring power lies in its universal message about the fragility of freedom and the ease with which ideals can be betrayed |
| UH | Staff | 咖啡变冷之前 | 川口俊和 | “希望一切都从一杯热咖啡开始，冷咖啡结束” 。要是能回到过去，你想见到谁？ |
| Haiyan Zhou | Staff | Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals | Oliver Burkeman | Focus on what’s truly meaningful, not what’s merely urgent. “The world is full of genuinely important things, and the trivial stuff will never stop coming.” |
| Anonymous | Staff | 小城与不确定性的墙 | 村上春树 | 读完书能感觉到村上在书中探讨了现实与虚构，生与死，自我意识与潜意识的多个话题。书中看似平凡的小城生活，不时被虚构性的象征与隐喻打碎。我们所谓的“现实”，其实可能常常是由记忆、想象与恐惧共同拼接出来的。另外，主人公在现实生活与小镇中的生活，与自己影子的对话可能也从另一面表现出尽管生活在某种秩序生活中，但潜意识里的欲望、逃避、焦虑却不断冲撞那堵“看不见的墙”。 |
| 俩娃妈 | Staff | 要有光 | 梁鸿 | “我突然意识到，我无法回应和碰触我孩子的痛苦，不是因为我不了解他，而是因为，我自己可能就是他痛苦的来源之一。在以爱为名的种种行为和话语中，我，我们这些自诩为爱孩子的人，逐渐走向了爱的反面。” |
| Anonymous | Staff | 冬牧场 | 李娟 | 风声呼啸，手机里的音乐纤细又执着加玛就着这音乐跳起舞来。我抬头环顾，跳舞的加玛之外，我和马儿之外，羊群之外，满目的天空、流云、白雪、黄沙。再无一物。心想:这就是放羊了。 |
| Yingzhe Zhou | Staff | 中国守艺人一百零八匠: 传统手工艺人的诗意与乡愁 | 罗易成 | “原来我赚钱的时候，钱并没有给我带来内心的平静，我会因此睡不着，总不知道自己要干点什么。比如我去找人喝酒，打牌，满足虚荣心，通过这些带来短暂的快乐。那会我常年不是睡得很晚，而是都要熬到早晨才睡——但现在我挺好，现在到了晚上十点，你不叫我睡我也困得睁不开眼睛，早上一到七点钟，你不叫我，我也起来，我很享受这样的生活，我的心里很平静。你看我现在这种生活状态，我不需要什么钱，就这身干活的衣服，一年两年我都不用换。——王飞 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 两京十五日 | 马伯庸 | 一个人如果面临纷乱的局势，一时难以措手，不妨先从做完一小事开始。一个个麻烦由小及大，逐一解开，你不知不觉便进入状态了。古人临事钓鱼，临战弈棋，都是这个道理。 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 审判 | 弗兰茨 卡夫卡 | 约瑟夫·K是一名银行高级职员，在他30岁生日的早上，无缘无故地被捕了。K不知道自己的罪名，也没有失去人身自由，只是需要定期接受审判。他四处寻求帮助，遇到了许多人，律师、女佣、商人、画师、神父……为了澄清自己无罪，他经历了许多既怪诞又似乎十分“合理”的事情。经过一年的奔波，他终于明白反抗是无用的。 K 到底犯了什么罪?这是一个不解之谜 人最大的困境，不是犯了错，而是总想证明自己没错，别总想着澄清，这世界上总有一些事儿就是没道理可讲，学会接受 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 另一种疯狂-精神疾病的污名与希望之旅 | 斯蒂芬·欣肖 | 作为临床心理学/精神健康领域内具有国际影响力的专家学者，欣肖教授以真挚的笔触，专业、生动、深刻分析了精神疾病对父亲本人及其家庭带来的深远影响，既有专业的解读，又极具人文关怀 |
| Anonymous | Staff | 世界作为参考答案 | 刘擎、严飞 | “在现代社会我们免不了需要有利益权衡与博弈，制度性的工具理性安排，也无法恢复传统社会那种等级化与人身依附的社群形态，因此以复古的方式返回古典道德、伦理和美德的生活，可能是既不可欲也不可行的。但现代人不能为了富足和繁荣而完全被工具理性的庞大机器所掌控，完全牺牲和淹没我们作为人的特有的精神和价值，人文主义需要在现代性条件下重建。” |
| Anonymous | Staff | 献给阿尔吉侬的花束 | 丹尼尔·凯斯 | 读《献给阿尔吉侬的花束》，最动人心魄的莫过于查理在智商起伏间的生命轨迹与人性映照。 从拼写滞涩的懵懂状态，到短暂拥有高阶认知后，再到无奈回归懵懂，他的每一步转变都裹挟着纯粹的赤诚，更清晰照见人性的多面性。 愚钝时，他遭受着轻慢与戏谑；聪慧后，开始意识到过去种种，当过去的情感和新鲜的认知蜂拥而来，短短几章，情节的扭曲更像是人性的发展。阿尔吉侬更像另外一个他，经历过短暂的觉醒而又回归尘埃。 合书沉思，满心怅然之余更觉，个体的价值从不应以智商高低为标尺，那些根植于人性深处的赤诚与善意，才是生命最珍贵的底色。而查理的经历更引人反思，当个体认知与周遭语境产生落差时，人性中的包容与尊重何其难得，这份本应平等给予每个灵魂的温柔，不该因外在认知的差异被轻待或消解。 |
| Bihui Huang | Staff | Their Language of Love | Bapsi Sidhwa | Their Language of Love is a concise collection of short stories by Bapsi Sidhwa—an author you might not know, but definitely should. She’s one of the sharpest, funniest, and most heartfelt writers to emerge from South Asia, and this book is essentially a sampler of everything she excels at. The stories range from chaos during Partition to awkward childhood moments and the everyday drama of Parsi aunties trying to outshine each other at dinner parties. Sidhwa writes with a blend of humor and heartbreak, so you might find yourself smiling at a minor social detail one moment, and the next, reflecting on displacement, trauma, or the confusing nature of families worldwide. What makes the collection so great is how light it feels, even when the themes are heavy. Sidhwa doesn’t lecture. She just drops you into the lives of people—kids, migrants, elders, misfits—and lets you feel things on your own. Her writing is clear, fast-paced, and often quietly hilarious. It’s the kind of book you can finish in an afternoon but still think about for days. It’s short, charming, and offers a glimpse into a community and history rarely seen in mainstream fiction. If you enjoy stories that are emotional without feeling heavy, funny without being silly, and smart without requiring a dictionary, this is a great place to start. Plus, if you’ve ever experienced family drama, cultural confusion, or simply felt a bit lost as a person, you’ll find something here that resonates. In short: read it. It’s small but powerful—like the literary equivalent of a tiny spicy chili. |
| Bihui Huang | Staff | 皮囊 | 蔡崇達 | 蔡崇達的《皮囊》像是一部用低聲細語寫成的生命之書。它不喧囂，不驚心，卻在無聲中敲打心扉。翻開每一章，彷彿推開一扇光線柔軟的小窗，讓那些關於生命、死亡、疾病、信仰、故鄉的沉重，在一種近乎慈悲的光中顯露出來。不是直面鋒芒，而是被輕輕引領——讓讀者能夠以更柔和的方式觸碰那些通常會避開的話題。 寫父親的篇章是書中最動人心弦的部分。一個曾經強壯、沉默、可靠的男人，被中風一點點拆解：從滿懷希望、精心制定康復計劃，到逐漸意識到左手的麻木、腳趾的消失、身體如沙般從指縫滑走。蔡崇達沒有渲染悲情，只是把一個人的退敗寫得安靜，如潮水悄悄退去。希望從不曾一下崩塌，而是每日縮小一厘米、再一厘米。然而那些縮小的空隙里，藏着一家人默契的溫柔——彼此都知道真相，卻誰也不願先戳破。正是這種不言破的悲傷，像一處暗涌的潮濕，讓人讀着忍不住屏息。 與父親的沉痛形成對照的，是阿太對生命的另一種姿態：一種徹底的清明，甚至帶有幾分頑皮的洒脫。她臨走前對“我”說的那段話，如同一盞忽然亮起的燈： “黑狗達不準哭。死不就是腳一蹬的事情嘛，要是誠心想念我，我自然會去看你。因為從此之後，我已經沒有皮囊這個包袱，來去多方便。” 一個不識字的老人，卻把死亡說得如此輕盈。那種不帶一絲恐懼的豁達，幾乎讓讀者忘了“離別”應該是沉重的。阿太的話像一陣海風——帶着鹽味、帶着生氣，也帶着一種超越文字的智慧。 書中還有一條不容忽視的暗線：故鄉的閩南小城。那裡的海風、廟宇、紅磚、濕氣、宗教、風俗、咸濕的市井與閃亮的新招牌……共同構成一個既傳統又現代、既固執又柔軟的空間。小城不是背景，它像一個有體溫、有脾氣的角色，用自己的方式塑造着書中的每一個人，也被人們的命運反過來雕刻。傳統與現代在這裡不斷衝撞、磨合、吞吐，形成一種鮮明的過渡性的美——既帶着鄉土的原色，又閃爍着時代的光。 《皮囊》之所以迷人，不在於它給出答案，而在於它讓我們在閱讀中逐漸明白：身體只是皮囊，而皮囊之下，是試圖理解世界、試圖逃離命運、試圖擁抱生活、試圖與痛苦共處的靈魂。每一章都是一次輕輕的觸碰，讓你在不知不覺中直視那些你平日里避之不及的問題，卻又不會被壓得喘不過氣。 它讓悲傷變得不刺耳，讓死亡變得不陰冷，讓生命的脆弱顯得可被理解，甚至可被溫柔對待。 |
| Anonymous | Undergraduate student | 还是要相信 | 陈鲁豫 | “而我，从不操心尚未发生的事情，何况已经发生的也未必就是终极结果。反正除了死亡，所有的将来都还有将来，明日之后还有明日。” |
| HMOB | Undergraduate student | The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet | John Green | My favorite quotes were “…art isn’t optional for humans,” from a chapter on the Lascaux Cave Paintings, and “we are never far from wonders.” |
| Ceyun Zhang | Undergraduate student | 我的名字叫红 My Name is Red | 奥尔罕.帕慕克 | 此为奥尔罕.帕穆克诺奖作品。有意思的是，本人版本在诺奖之前印刷。 此书最大的特点为“土耳其说书人式的写作”，有点像中国古典小说中的“圆形描写”。每一章，作者都带入不同的第一人称，从各个角度推进故事。甚至有从死掉的人，从一幅画，从一个金币等。 这是一个悬疑故事，但，探讨的是什么是绘画的本质。 书中探讨的绘画形式是在中东很流行的细密画，由于本人上过莫卧儿王朝印度历史课，所以比较熟悉。简单来讲，这是一种插画，特点是镀金，借鉴了法兰克、阿拉伯、中国艺术的各种形式。 书中尤其介绍了一种意象，马。说实话，本人对绘画的本质一直心存芥蒂。但是看完后认为讲的极好。他认为，绘画并不一定是创新型的，也可以是对于意象的不断重复，甚至只临摹他人的绘画。书中的大师，一生只是在不断的模仿前代大师的作品，比如不断的画马，以致最后失明，并把失明视为“安拉的礼物”。而吸收其他的画法甚至被认为是对安拉的亵渎。因为像法兰克画法写实，但细密画认为绘画画出的是安拉眼中的样子，因此写实反而被避免。 更有意思的是，我认为他也探讨并解决了创新型绘画是什么，也就是看似全新的形象是如何被创造出来的。从本质上看，创新型绘画和固守型绘画无差。他们认为画一匹马，这匹马一定不是世间存在的，而应该是在一个人看过无数匹马，模仿过无数匹马的绘画后，最终提炼出来了一种“绝对存在的”马，而这种马就是所谓“安拉眼中的马”，而不是世界上真实的马。 与之概念相同的很显然就是柏拉图的“理型的世界”，绘画也就成了对于一种抽象理型的具体描述。 同时，这种理型又是一种相对的理型，而不是一种绝对的理型。（当然，这是很不严谨的，因为柏拉图认为某种事物的理型唯一存在）因为每一个人眼中的理型不一样，这也就是书中所说的风格。而细密画家却在极力避免风格，他们想通过个人理型的扩大化去无限接近绝对理型的存在。这实际上就是柏格森在《物质与记忆》里面的“知觉”。他认为，不论是在唯心主义还是唯物主义的系统中，他们都承认知觉的存在。因为只有一个人产生了知觉，他才可能从外界获得知识，而这种相对的理型对应的很显然就是画家自身对于外界知觉的提炼。 同样所谓的创新型绘画实际上是一种对于知觉的混杂再重组。明白的说，一个人不可能画出不存在的东西，他的绘画一定有现实依据不论这种依据明显或模糊。这一点就很像九正人在《51区》里面提到了有一种叫做“觉”的日本妖精。这种妖怪最大的特征就是可以预知未来。而所谓预知未来的形式，实际上是他在脑子里对于已有的现实进行了推演，这实际上也和历史上所谓的“量子脑实验”不谋而合。总的来讲，创新型绘画实际上就是某种形式的推演，但是这种推演是以大量现实依据为基础的。 而固守型绘画与创新型绘画之间的联系在于他们对于理型的记忆形式和混杂程度。因为即便是固守型绘画，他的脑子中一定也必须产生形象，才能够把形象付诸纸上。但是如果形象的存留时间很短，或者根本就没有进行混杂，也就变成了临摹。但若形象已经被熟记并经过了自己的抽象和混杂，那么再画就会是创新。 |
| Ruizhi Zhang | Undergraduate student | 长安的荔枝 | 马伯庸 | 大唐盛世，光鲜亮丽的从来都是达官显贵。天子的一道圣旨，再经由权贵的阿谀奉承，最终在为其奔波的，从来都是平民百姓、无名小卒。就为以鲜荔枝博贵妃一笑，举国上下出尽人力财力。而作为全权负责此事的荔枝使李善德，更是孤身一人的在一条死路中跌跌撞撞地闯出了一线生机。天子的凝视像是一层厚重的烟瘴笼罩在每一个普通百姓的心上。 但在书的末尾，长安传来沦陷的消息。我尤其喜欢这段描述：“这都是上好的荔枝，不比阿僮种的差，本作为贡品留在枝头的。他缓缓蹲下，一枚接着一枚的剥开，一口气吃了三十多枚，知道实在吃不下去，才停下来。”随着天子的驾崩，心头的枷锁也随即解开——小人物也获得了生命的自由。读到这是，我感到酣畅淋漓。 |
| Tianyu Qiao | Undergraduate student | 好运设计 | 史铁生 | “生在穷乡僻壤，有孤陋寡闻之虞，不好；生在贵府名门，又有骄狂愚妄之险，也不好。” “所谓好运，所谓幸福，显然不是一种客观的程序，而完全是心灵的感受，是强烈的幸福感罢了。对了，没有痛苦和磨难你就不能强烈地感受到幸福。对了，那只是舒适只是平庸，不是好运不是幸福，这下对了。” “只要你最最关心的是目的而不是过程，你无论怎样都得落入绝境，只要你仍然不从目的转向过程，你就别想走出绝境，。……事实上你唯一具有的就是过程。一个只想使过程精彩的人是无法被剥夺的。……“ ”过程！对，生命的意义就在于你能创造这过程的美好与精彩，生命的价值就在于你能够镇静而又激动地欣赏这过程的美丽与悲壮。” |
| Kadori | Undergraduate student | Atomic Habits | James Clear | This book is nothing to what I’m used to read, this is about self help, productivity and psychology. It was very interesting because it first lays down the foundation of how the habits are formed and how to build good habits, step by step. It doesn’t matter if that step is small or atomic, in the long run it will lead to a bigger change. This book mainly helped me understand how to make my recent habits better since being a college student requires a lot of discipline and this is making a foundation for that… I really recommend people reading it at least once as it is life changing |
| Anastasiia Titarova | Undergraduate student | The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | “Maktub” (It is written)” |
| Rita | Undergraduate student | 小径分岔的花园 | Jorge Luis Borges | 优美的语言，精炼的叙述，前卫的概念，引人入胜的故事。介乎奇幻和科幻之间。 |
| HMOB | Undergraduate student | Hamlet | Shakespeare | It was a little bit tough to get through but so funny and now I understand all the references to the story in popular culture. Thank you, Shakespeare. |
| Ziyao Wang | Undergraduate student | 日光流年 | 阎连科 | 整本书采用了倒叙，叙事风格和结构极具阎连科的个人风格。倒叙的采用加强了一种命运的轮回感，人们一代代的努力，最终回到了开始，徒劳无功。同时，这种时间的回溯营造出了一种无力感，仿佛结局已经注定任何努力都没用。 至于为什么三姓村人们会失败，表面上来看，是方法的错误，源自于眼界的狭窄和科学知识的缺失。他们试图用引水，翻地，吃油菜花这种荒谬的方式来延长寿命，解决40岁早死的问题。但是，深层次上来看，一切的根源在于“集体大于个人”的结构性暴力，村长怀着救民的崇高理想，但是却主观臆断，采用不合理的方式，同时四任村长都采取了极端强迫式的指令以达成目标，比如卖皮，强迫翻土修渠，蝗灾来了强制村名保护油菜花导致颗粒无收。在这种结构性暴力之下，一旦有人尝试反抗，就会立刻被村长，其他村民质疑，孤立，最后只能服从。 |
| doggy | Undergraduate student | 病隙碎笔 | 史铁生 | 约伯的信心才是真正的信心。其前面没有福乐做引诱，有的倒是接连不断的苦难。 |
| Nomuka Batsuuri | Undergraduate student | Migrations | Charlotte McConaghy | It has been decided by our leaders that economic growth is more important. That the extinction crisis is an acceptable trade for their greed. |
| Lucy | Undergraduate student | 自我突围 | 施一公 | 所谓独立人格，就是对世界上的事物有自己独立的看法。恰恰是一些有脾气的人，才不会轻易随波逐流，可以保持自己的独立人格。 |
| Zihan Chen | Undergraduate student | 他改变了中国：江泽民传 (The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin) | Robert Lawrence Kuhn | 江泽民避过了极左和极右的政治风波，开始更加自由地发表自己的看法。有时，为了给重要的来访宾客留下好印象（或者是不让他们感到震惊)，干部们会被要求从平时破旧的住所暂时搬进较为体面的房子。江谴责这种弄虚作假的行为。他后来回忆这一做法时说：“知识分子不能改变现实去适应形势。我们有责任面对现实。” |
