书要读薄

曾经听有识之士说好书要先读厚，然后再读薄。那些不算好书的书呢？很多书本来就不值得写那么厚----其实很多书本来就不值得写, full stop。写那么厚无非是为了订高价找个理由----不管作者的版税是不是捐掉，或者捐多少，出版商是肯定要先赚到再说。

不值得花功夫读，又想了解书的主要内容，一个办法就是别人读了讲给你大意。Tony Blair的回忆录洋洋洒洒600多页，我不会读更不会买了读。多谢《金融时报》的博客作者替我们读了，而且替我们读的很薄了。总结下来这600多页的内容主要是这么五点：

The first MP I ever met was Michael Spicer, who was introduced to me by my father. He and my father were both Tories, and I admired them, but I soon realised they were wrong.

I began to have premonitions, and realised it was my duty – my destiny – to lead the Labour party and the country. I changed the party, I made us electable and I defeated the Tories. For my first act in power, I decided to make the Bank of England independent. Gordon might tell you it was his idea, but he is wrong.

In the early days, Gordon was my friend, my rock, my lover. I wooed him when I ran for leader but we soon began to have tiffs. He did not support me as he should have and he did not really back public sector reform. He was wrong.

I learned about liberal interventionism from watching Schindler’s List, an amazing film, as I told Steven Spielberg. It was from watching this that I realised we had to invade Iraq. I cry myself to sleep thinking about the deaths that war has triggered but I cannot apologise, because I was not wrong.

I am not backing anyone in the leadership election, but I can tell you this: Diane Abbott, Andy Burnham, Ed Balls and Ed Miliband – they are all wrong.

到这，我只能说：What a waste of paper!

p.s.:其实去年看到这篇博客的时候就打算存下来的，后来一懒就忘了。昨天在郭凯的博客下面留言，特意去FT的网站上又搜出来，这回要留底了。