今天在书店看到一本有关欧洲史综述的书籍 Europe: A History,作者是 Norman Davies。在书店匆匆一瞥,难以确定这本书内容的好坏。而对于书名和作者名,我也没有什么的印象。回到宿舍之后,在网上查询了一些相关的资料。Amazon 上,看到有位来自香港的评论者,给了这本书一个三颗星的评价。评论中说的是:

the book is supposed to be new, but when i received it, i feel a little disappointed. because the corners of the book are damaged and it looks like a second-hand book from its cover… nevertheless, the inside of the book don’t have any problem as it don’t have a single mark.

很少见的,但也是很应该的,有27位用户对这条评论进行了投票且无一例外地认为这条评论“not helpful”。有一位用户这样批评说:

Most of us fellow Amazonians seriously don’t care what condition the book is in. Mostly, it’s the WORDS we care about. Do you have much to say on that, if anything?

在中文网上书店中也看到太多“书评”写的只是纸张如何、封面如何、送货是否及时,少有认认真真评价书中内容的。相形之下,在亚马逊上,很多书籍都有非常精彩的书评,而且那些高质量的书评往往也是出自普普通通的读者之手。

读书,不应该只是翻翻书页,不应该只是拿书本作些点缀。应当把书中的字句读出来,思想一番,或者临到作者的意境中去,或者收获些益处知识。