Here’s what YOU can do to bend your brain into submission

So, we did our part. The rest is up to you. These tips are a starting point; listen to your brain and figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. Try new things.

这样，我们尽了自己的职责。剩下的就靠你了。这些提示是一个起点（为何 are 后用 a?）;听从你的大脑，弄明白什么对你起作用，什么不。尝试新事物。

1. Slow down. The more you understand, the less you have to memorize.

慢下来。你理解的越多，需要记的就越少。

Don’t just read. Stop and think. When the book asks you a question, don’t just skip to the answer. Imagine that someone really is asking the question. The more deeply you force your brain to think, the better chance you have of learning and remembering.

不要只是单纯地阅读。不时停下来思考。当本书提出一个问题，不要立刻去翻答案。想象着这儿真的有个人在问你这个问题。你强迫你的大脑思考得越深入，你更可能学到并牢记知识。

2. Do the exercises. Write your own notes.

做练习。自己做笔记。

We put them in, but if we did them for you, that would be like having someone else do your workouts for you. And don’t just look at the exercises. Use a pencil. There’s plenty of evidence that physical activity while learning can increase the learning.

我们把它们放进来，但是如果我们把一切都为你做好，就会像有人替你做体育锻炼一样。并且，不要只是单纯地看这些练习。拿支铅笔。有大量的证据表明，学习时的体力活动能帮助学习。

3. Read “There Are No Dumb Questions.”

阅读“这儿没有蠢问题”部分

That means all of them. They’re not optional sidebars, they’re part of the core content! Don’t skip them.

这指的是它们所有的内容。它们并不是可有选择地阅读的附加内容。它们是核心内容的一部分！不要跳过它们。

4. Make this the last thing you read before bed. Or at least the last challenging thing.

让这本书成为你睡前阅读的最后一本书。或者至少是做的最后一件有挑战性的事。

Part of the learning (especially the transfer to long-term memory) happens after you put the book down. Your brain needs time on its own, to do more processing. If you put in something new during that processing time, some of what you just learned will be lost.

学习的一部分（特别是转换为长期记忆这部分）发生在你放下这本书之后。你的大脑需要由它自己支配的时间，去做更多的加工处理活动。如果你放了什么新活动在这一过程中，一些你刚刚学过的知识会被忘记。

5. Talk about it. Out loud.

大声地谈论它。

Speaking activates a different part of the brain. If you’re trying to understand something, or increase your chance of remembering it later, say it out loud. Better still, try to explain it out loud to someone else. You’ll learn more quickly, and you might uncover ideas you hadn’t known were there when you were reading about it.

6. Drink water. Lots of it.

喝很多的水。

Your brain works best in a nice bath of fluid. Dehydration (which can happen before you ever feel thirsty) decreases cognitive function.

7. Listen to your brain.

听从你的大脑。

Pay attention to whether your brain is getting overloaded. If you find yourself starting to skim the surface or forget what you just read, it’s time for a break. Once you go past a certain point, you won’t learn faster by trying to shove more in, and you might even hurt the process.

8. Feel something.

心有所感。

Your brain needs to know that this matters. Get involved with the stories. Make up your own captions for the photos. Groaning over a bad joke is still better than feeling nothing at all.

9. Write a lot of code!

多写代码！

There’s only one way to learn to program in C: write a lot of code. And that’s what you’re going to do throughout this book. Coding is a skill, and the only way to get good at it is to practice. We’re going to give you a lot of practice: every chapter has exercises that pose a problem for you to solve. Don’t just skip over them—a lot of the learning happens when you solve the exercises. We included a solution to each exercise—don’t be afraid to peek at the solution if you get stuck! (It’s easy to get snagged on something small.) But try to solve the problem before you look at the solution. And definitely get it working before you move on to the next part of the book.