In April 2003 at a book-launch for Nanfang Shuo's latest work, Magical Eyes, his old friend Liao Hsien-hao, the new director of the Taipei City Cultural Affairs' Bureau, described him as "a symbol of all things related to reading." Indeed, as a result of his prolific reading and writing people "sometimes mistakenly think he has some special reading technique." After a long history of reading books on society, politics, economics, history and culture, a curious reporter asked: Do you ever read bestsellers?

Nanfang Shuo replied that he does not discriminate between books, whether classics or light reading, because he believes that unless a work is truly vulgar reading is always profitable. Even if someone likes reading love stories, then by reading all the love stories from ancient times to the present they can become an expert in the field.

"However, when I read I tend to favor certain types of books. If I read a book quickly and finish it in one or two hours, that means I pretty much understand the content, and there is no real need for me to spend any extra time on it. If I cannot understand the first page, that indicates the author is on a completely different wavelength to me. In other words, I have no grasp of his logic or basic knowledge. In such cases, there's no point continuing because that would be a waste of time."

What sort of books does Nanfang Shuo prefer then? "I like to read books I understand a little but not so much to make them boring. In other words, the author thinks a little like me but knows more than I do. Ultimately knowledge and wisdom are gradually accumulated in this way."

With his white hair, habit of furrowing his brow when speaking and his obvious concern for the fate of the nation, Nanfang Shuo indicates that he reads no differently from anyone else, suggesting that anyone who reads for such a long time inevitably learns to turn the pages quicker. He admits that as a child he was a bookworm, unable to do anything but read. He first discovered books at elementary school, more than 40 years ago, in which time he has learned a great deal from reading.

Reading as window shopping

Images of Nanfang Shuo's study are often published in magazines devoted to books and reading. When asked how many books he owns he says simply, "I don't know." Nanfang points out that his study was originally located on the second floor of his home, but the bookcases there soon became full, and he began to pile the books on the floor. Since his son left home to study, the empty bedroom has become home to some of the overflow of the father's book collection.

"Reading is not like collecting stamps," Nanfang Shuo says. For example, when there are five stamps in a set, the philatelist will do all he or she can to find the last one and complete the set. Reading is not like that, and although masterpieces are important, the reading of one book leads to the reading of others, so it is good to read different books on a related subject. "The world of books is vast," he says. "People in the modern world read books like they are window shopping, reading whatever catches their eye."

It was as a result of his love for reading that Nanfang Shuo became involved in writing the introductions to books. Over the last decade, the publishing industry in Taiwan has introduced a great many translations of books on Western thought, and in order to help readers understand better what they are reading and the work's position in the broader framework of a certain academic field, editors have chosen to place brief introductions at the front of these books for local readers. Nanfang Shuo has been one of the most enthusiastic participants. The title of his new book Magical Eyes hints at his ability to roam through an ocean of books and differentiate often confused and unclear ideas, thereby helping readers grasp more readily the ongoing progress of history.

"There are many different kinds of readers. Those with a market-oriented character like to browse through bookstores and this is their main indicator of what to read." Nanfang Shuo points out that there are many different ways of encouraging people to read, book reviews being one type, as some people think those books reviewed by experts or scholars are more important. Having read avidly for so many years however, he has developed his own individual standards of evaluation. Sometimes he leafs through a book, checking who wrote, published or recommended it, or perhaps he will peruse the index and bibliography. This is how Nanfang Shuo determines whether a book is worth reading.

Politics and economics

Although many publishers worry that the number of people reading books in Taiwan is declining, Nanfang Shuo does not see things that way. "In the modern world people spend more and more time at school," he explains. "In other words, the amount of time spent reading continues to increase. Moreover, the fact that knowledge has become ever more finely defined means the variety of books is greater than ever. Let's not forget that technical textbooks are also books. People now learn for longer than they used to, which in effect means more time is needed to assimilate accumulated knowledge."

Nanfang points out that over 40,000 new books are published in Taiwan each year, so readers have been customized into different groups. The reason many people have trouble naming five important books if asked is not because they don't read, but because they read so much they are unable to suddenly select the five most important.

Many years ago, Nanfang Shuo became interested in the origins of language. Taking vocabulary often seen in the reporting of news events as his starting point, he set about tracing the historical origins of certain words and phrases whilst also discussing the process by which their meaning in society has evolved. For example, researching the Chinese expression for "mafia" (heidao, literally "black way") Nanfang Shuo conducted a textual search of references to black and the metaphorical implications of the color to Chinese people. As part of this research, he read the Confucian classics, history, philosophy and belles-lettres--the four traditional categories of Chinese writing--gaining particular insight from notebooks and miscellaneous jottings.

"After reading for a while one finds that all knowledge is interconnected and that one can dip in and out of literature, history, social theory, etc., at will," Nanfang Shuo says. Only at the age of 40 did he suddenly feel he was starting to see things more clearly. He likens this development to that of a senior high school student who is good at math, able to use algebra to solve trigonometry, trigonometry to solve geometry and geometry to solve algebra. In fact, he suggests the relationship between literature, poetry, politics and philosophy is the same. This also explains why over the last few years he has taken to using poetry to explain international political and economic phenomena.

"When compared to anything else reading is one of the easiest things to do," Nanfang Shuo says, "because it presents the fewest difficulties. As long as one wants to read it is also one of the most inexpensive forms of enjoyment."

The joy Nanfang Shuo gets from reading can perhaps best be summed up in one of his favorite quotes, from the poem "Personal Talk" written in 1806 by the English romantic poet William Wordsworth:

Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good:
Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow.

p.14

Nanfang Shuo, known as "the most industrious private scholar in Taiwan," lives amidst a sea of books, often basking in the light of the wisdom the written word imparts.