How to read books adler

How to Read a Book

4. Move on to next book.

Reading a book seems like a pretty straightforward task, doesn’t it? And in some cases, it is. If you’re reading purely for entertainment or leisure, it certainly can be that easy. There’s another kind of reading, though, in which we at least attempt to glean something of value from the book in our hands (whether in paper or tablet form). In that instance, you might be surprised to learn that it’s not as simple as opening the book and reading the words.

Why Do We Need Instructions on How to Read a Book?

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. –Francis Bacon

In 1940, Mortimer Adler wrote the first edition of what is now considered a classic of education, How to Read a Book. There have been subsequent editions that contain great information, but the bulk of what we’ll be covering today is from Adler’s words of advice from nearly 75 years ago.

He states that there are four types of reading:

This post will cover inspectional and analytical reading, and we’ll focus mostly on analytical. If you’re reading this blog, you likely have mastered the elementary level. Inspectional reading is still useful, especially when trying to learn new things quickly, or if you’re just trying to get the gist of what something is about. I won’t cover syntopical reading in this post, as it’s just not used much by Average Joe Reader.

Analytical reading is where most readers fall short. The average high schooler in America reads at a 5th grade level, and the average adult American reads somewhere between the 7th and 8th grade levels. This is where most popular fiction actually falls. For men, think Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Louis L’Amour, etc. These are books that are incredibly entertaining, and a great way to spend a weekend afternoon, but if we’re honest with ourselves, don’t challenge our intellect all that much. There are some fine examples of manhood in those characters to be sure, but the point is that you won’t get more out of reading them once than you will out of reading them five times. It’s also why these are the types of books that are always on the bestseller lists — they cater to the level that most Americans can actually read at.

How come people can’t read at a higher level? Are we a society full of dopes? Hardly. Adler argues that the reason actually lies in our education. Once we reach the point of elementary reading, it’s assumed that we can now read. And to a point, we can. But we never actually learn how to digest or critique a book. So we get to high school and college and get overloaded with reading assignments that we’re supposed to write long papers about, and yet we’ve never learned how to truly dissect a book and get the most value out of it.

That’s our task today with this post. Again, I’ll mostly cover analytical reading, but I’ll also touch on inspectional reading, and a couple other related tidbits as well.

Inspectional Reading

As mentioned above, there are certainly times when inspectional reading is appropriate. It’s particularly useful when you’re at the bookstore trying to pick out your next book and deciding if the unknown object in front of you is worth the dough. (The good news is that you can also do this with ebooks — in most cases you can scan the cover, the table of contents, the introduction, etc. before actually buying.) This type of reading is also handy when trying to learn new things quickly, or when you’re just trying to get the gist of something. It’s great for the kind of reading you should be doing to stay current in your career as well; books related to a certain industry can often be full of fluff and chapters that just don’t apply to your particular job, and inspectional reading lets you glean the things that are actually helpful without wasting time on irrelevant material.

You can often get a pretty good feel for a book with inspectional reading by following the steps below. (To get the most out of this, you can actually follow along with a book off your shelf — it will only take 5-10 minutes.):

Analytical Reading

You don’t need to do this type of reading for just anything. Only undertake it if you really want to get the most out of the book in front of you. Even Adler mentioned that not every book deserves this thorough treatment. But, many do. To read a great book and simply throw it back on the shelf to collect dust is in many ways a waste. The tips below apply to both fiction and non-fiction, but I’ll note where something may differ.

Let’s find out how to get the most out of what we read:

First, look up a bit about the author and the other books he/she has written. This is a personal thing. Before I pick up a book, I almost always look up the author and/or the book itself on Wikipedia. I like to know how old the writer is, what some of his or her motivations were, how autobiographical it may be if it’s a novel (you’d be surprised how many are), etc. This just gives you a little context into the author’s life that will hopefully help you understand the book a little better.

Second, do a quick inspectional reading. This is partially why I wanted to cover inspectional reading in the first place. A good, thorough reading of any book will include it. Look at the cover, always read the opening pages, etc. I know far too many people who never read introductions and just get right into page one. You’re skipping the valuable information that can actually frame the entire way you read the book. You don’t need to jump ahead to the conclusion, but at least get all that you can out of the cover and those opening pages.

Third, read the book all the way through, somewhat quickly. Adler actually calls this a “superficial reading”; you’re simply trying to digest the overall purpose of the book. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean speed-reading. It more means that you won’t stop and scrutinize the meaning of each and every paragraph. It means that when you get stuck in a place that’s hard to understand, you’ll keep on going anyway. It means that when the story slows down a little and gets boring, you don’t just read 10 pages a day, but you’ll keep powering through with the purpose of understanding the flow of the book as well as you can right off the bat. In this reading you are underlining or circling or taking notes on things you have questions about, but you aren’t looking into those questions just yet. When you’re done with the book, go back through and look at what you underlined or circled or took some notes about. Try your best to answer a few of those questions you had. If you have the time and desire, re-read the whole thing again. I often do a semi-quick reading like this for many classics that I’m reading for the first time, but then I’ll go back a few months later (okay, sometimes it ends up being years) and read it a little more slowly.

This is where many people struggle with reading older or more complicated books. You might stop 50 pages into The Iliad because you’re just too confused about the language and the style. It’s actually best to just power through that and understand what you can, and then come back to your misunderstandings later. Better to have some knowledge than none at all.

Fourth, use aids, only if you have to. If there is a word you don’t know, first look at the context to try to discern its meaning. Use your own brain to get things going. If it’s something you simply can’t get past, or the word is clearly too important for you to glance over, then pull out the dictionary. If there’s a cultural reference that you can tell is important to understanding the particular passage, Google it. The main point is that you can use the tools around you, but don’t lean on them. Let your brain work a little bit before letting Google work for you.

Fifth, answer the following four questions as best as you can. Now, these questions could have been listed as the first step, as you should keep these in mind from the second you start reading. But, they quite obviously can’t be answered until you’ve read the book. This, Adler says, is actually the key to analytical reading. To be able to answer these questions shows that you have at least some understanding of the book. If you can’t answer them, you probably haven’t quite paid attention well enough. Also, it’s my opinion that you should actually write (or type) these answers out. Consider it to be like a book journal. It’ll stay with you and become much more ingrained than if you just answer them in your head.

Sixth, critique and share your thoughts with others. Notice that this step is dead last. Only after having read the entire book, and thoughtfully answered the questions above, can you critique or have meaningful discussions about the book. When reading Amazon reviews, it’s clear when someone stopped reading three chapters in and gave a terrible review. Be extra careful about coming right out and saying, “I understand the book.” You can certainly understand parts of a book, but to have no questions at all probably means that it wasn’t actually a good book to start with, or you are full of yourself. When discussing, be precise in your areas of agreement or disagreement. To simply say, “This is stupid,” or, “I don’t like it,” offers nothing to a conversation. Also know that you don’t have to agree or disagree with everything about or in a book. You can love some parts and really dislike others.

Now you’ve read a book for all its worth! Huzzah! To execute all of these practices for every book you read would be exhausting and time-consuming. I know that my enjoyment would probably be lessened if I did this for everything I read. So, take a few points and apply them to your reading. Personally, I resolved to read the difficult books I encounter all the way through (not something I’ve always done in the past), and to keep a short journal of every book I read that answers, at least in part, the four questions above.

Why Read Analytically?

This can sound like a lot of work, and you may be asking yourself if analytical reading is really worthwhile. Isn’t reading something you do for pleasure and entertainment? Partially, yes. You certainly don’t need to be sketching out an outline while you’re reading Dan Brown’s Inferno on the beach this summer (although maybe doing so will help you solve the mystery before Langdon does).

As the late great Stephen Covey taught us, however, a man should always be “sharpening the saw.” This means keeping yourself sharp in all areas of your life. Doing any kind of reading is beneficial, but engaging in analytical reading from time to time can greatly enhance these benefits and help us become better men in several ways:

Increases your attention span. The internet has given us more reading opportunities than ever before. But oftentimes our cyber reading consists of skimming and/or quickly jumping from one thing to the next without giving each much thought at all. Have you ever tried to talk to someone about something you read on the net earlier in the day only to find you couldn’t really recall much about it? Reading a book analytically gives your focus and your skills for diving into a single thing deeply and mining it for all it’s worth some much needed training and exercise. It greatly sharpens your ability to handle something as a whole, rather than in part.

Enhances your critical thinking abilities. You can read, but how are you at examining something critically? Analytical reading hones your ability to evaluate truth, weigh evidence and sources, synthesize information, make connections between different things, evaluate claims, discover wisdom hidden below the surface, understand others’ motivations, interpret symbolism, and draw your own conclusions. Quite obviously these skills are not limited to helping you better enjoy books, but are absolutely vital in becoming an independent, perceptive, and well-informed citizen and man.

Shapes you into a better man. A man who sees personal growth as being something important to him will take time to meditate on life and consider the areas in which he can improve. Books facilitate this reflection in a unique way because they present us with characters or stories (be they real-life or fictional) that we can relate to in at least some small way.

As an example, I just finished the recent sci-fi hit, Wool. It’s a unique story with great characters, and the author is fast becoming a celebrity in the indie publishing world. I could have quite easily read it and moved on to the next book in the series. But to pause, and read through passages that I highlighted, and take even just 10 minutes considering what can be learned from the book gave me a greater reading experience. Wool forced me to ask myself if there are areas of improvement in my life that I’ve glanced over simply because it’s something I’ve always done. It forced me to ask about the ways in which I’ve lessened risk simply because it was the easier way to live. I learned that doing the right thing is often terribly uncomfortable. It’s not the first time I’ve learned that lesson, but seeing it again in a unique story gives me yet another chance to be reminded of the importance of that lesson.

Reading analytically offers valuable opportunities for this kind of needed reflection and can help you think through the kind of man you are, don’t want to be, and definitely hope to become.

Additional Reading Tidbits

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Review: “How to read a book” by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

How to read a book? I often wonder a lot, I thought to read a book on it, so I chose “How to read a book” by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren and try to understand the art of reading – as I thought I am not reading correctly. The authors explain that there are only four levels of reading; elementary, inspectional, analytical, and the last the syntopical reading. The book mainly focused on how to read analytically, while giving a brief overview of others levels of reading, therefore a large chunk of the book, more than half of the book is dedicated to analytical reading. Elementary reading is a basic level of reading when a person, mainly a child, learning the language began to familiarize himself with the letters and words, etc., In inspectional reading, a person skims over the overall content of the book, but analytical reading is the active reading that is mostly done by the reader, in this, a person grasps and devours the book, conversely, syntopical reading is not about one book but reading books comparatively, preferably on the same subjects. Why do we read books? Is it to gain knowledge or understand the knowledge the book is presenting us? Do we read for pleasure or understanding? Whatsoever the case, the author knowledge is superior and readers inferior, the flow of understanding can, according to writers, only happen if we accept, without criticizing the author, that he is superior in knowledge, if we do not do that, it will be hard for the author to communicate. Since it was my first exposure to reading about reading, I learn a lot from the book, although at a time it was very hard to read the book itself.

The author starts by explaining how reading was and is the hallmark of great minds, intellectual people always choose to read good books. Choosing good-books also come with the ability to inspect the books by looking the title, the table of contents, the indexes therein, the author’s blurb and a cursory look at the chapters meaning skimming over all the book before starting to read analytically, to analyze the succinct overview, and finally to decide whether the book is worth reading or not, accordingly saving a lot of time. This is what I have started to do, I go to Youtube, I watch its summary and reviews if available, I read the title, the quotations of respective authors and others publishers, the brief overview of the book within the covers of the book, the table, the pages and the last and all that can make me understand what the book is all about before reading it analytically. This is not enough, the authors of the book, how to read a book, want you to consider the background of the authors, their reason for writing the book and socio-political environment where he belonged, and importantly, the views of authors about particular issues. For instance, in case of Yuval Noah Harari, I came to know that he is atheist and a gay and secularist, so I was expecting that he will furiously defend homosexuality, secularism and will always start with the historic background as he is historian, and I am proven wildly correct. The writers made me realize how much it is important to choose good books.

The important part of the books is its reminder to give the book what it deserves, mean to say, it warrants us to read it accordingly to our understanding; neither too fast, neither too slow, as the book in one place said, “Every book should be read no more slowly than its deserve, no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.” This brings us to analytical reading, basically, the author has described this type of reading with much detail, and to understand it better, I believe the book should be read twice – maybe later in life, if life remains, I will. There are a series of rules regarding analytical reading, to be precise, totaling 15, and divide it into three stages for clarity. The authors want us to ask questions and try to find its answers, it is can I summarize, state the unity, of the whole book in just one paragraph? What is being said by the author and how he said it? Did he give arguments in its support? What was the author trying to solve? And finally, can you outline what you read? It is, surely a very hectic job to do.

Moreover, the most important part of the book, as far as I am concern, is the preposition or claims that the author makes – I also learn this technique from Umar Riaz, a Police Officer, motivational speaker and avid reader in his review of 21st lessons for the 21st century in a video on Youtube. The preposition in the 21st lessons’ book was, as Umar Riaz explained, that the info-tech and the biotech, the combine can bring the revolution that will change every aspect of life – this leads him to write a 300 pages book. Therefore, it is necessary to divulge the claims. After that, the keywords of the author that he gives special meaning to, and finally the arguments that the author gives for these proving these prepositions. In the end, ask whether he is able or not, are his arguments satisfactory enough – the authors warn us that, we should not usher to criticizing the authors before going to all the rules and steps, and I believe it is the right of an author to be fully understood before judgments. First comes analysis, then evaluation. And for criticism it is necessary to give your own proposition, analysis, counter-arguments to prove your point; the hardest thing to do, most reviews on the good-reads are just emotional reactions just to show hatred of author overall.

To sum it all up, books should be chosen with the utmost care, and read with giving all your attention, questioning the book in the mid-way to know whether one is reading correctly or not, and in the end, give due to what you learn and give your honest review in the shape of well-described counter-arguments. This book also talks about how to read different books, like fiction, or sciences however, the main focus is expository books. The writers are philosophers, and it exhibits explicitly in the book. For me the book is great but it has repetition, mundane explanation, and useless elongation, the authors have tried their best to reach to their ultimate number of pages without giving preferring quantity over quality, especially the exercises at the end are almost useless, and the recommendations for books are not needed as everyone has their own taste. However, I learned a lot and got to know about the basics of reading that I think I had not thought over it before. A great book, indeed.

Carmen Rodríguez A

Willing to give the roar of life, wanting to become a tiger: independent, responsible, educated, confident, enlightened, real, constantly learning and improving and living life to the fullest.

“How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren

Chapter 1: The Activity and Art of Reading

“Successful communication occurs in any case where what the writer wanted to have received finds its way into the reader’s possession. “

This book is for readers who seek understanding through books. Adler mentions many times that since reading is an activity, it must be active. To truly read, one needs to try to understand everything on thy own. Reading is learning from an absent teacher which means that you must answer your questions on your own.

When one reads a book one of these two things happen:

1.) Either you understand everything perfectly

2.) You understand enough to know that you don’t understand it at all —˃ Hence what you are reading contains something that will increase your understanding.

Conditions necessary for reading in order to gain understanding:

1.) Initial inequality in understanding: someone must possess insights that the other lacks.

2.) The reader must overcome this inequality when equality is approached, clarity of communication is achieved.

Chapter 2: The Levels of Reading

1 st level of reading: Elementary reading/ basic reading literacy:

2 nd level of reading: Inspectional reading

3 rd level of reading: Analytical reading

4 th level of reading: Syntopical reading:

Chapter 3: The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading

There is a lot of concernment with world-literacy and diverse ways to teach how to read have developed. Dominating at the beginning and lately is the ABC learning method.

Chapter 4: The Second Level of Reading: Inspectional Reading

Systematical skimming or pre-reading.

– Read throughout the book without bothering on the things that you don´t understand, focusing on the things that you know for sure. “Don´t miss the forest for the trees”

– Vary your speed at reading while reading different things

Chapter 5: How to be a demanding Reader

Good books deserve a fine reading because we expect repayment from them

-1. What is the book about as a whole?

– 2. What is being said in detail, and how?

– 3. Is the book true, in whole or part?

– 4. What of it? If the book has given you information, you must ask about its significance. Why does the author think it is important to know these things?

PART TWO: THE THIRD LEVEL OF READING: ANALYTICAL READING

Chapter 6: Pigeonholing a Book

RULE 1: Know what kind of book you are reading as early in the process as possible, preferably before you begin to read. (You shall do this by inspectional reading).

Chapter 7: X-raying a Book

Chapter 8: Coming to terms with an author

“A term is the basic element of communicable knowledge”

Chapter 9: Determining an Author’s Message

– The major affirmations and denials an author makes, and the reason he gives for doing so.

– Not everything we read is equally important, that´s why we should read at different speeds.

Chapter 10: Criticizing a book fairly:

“To regard anyone except yourself as responsible for your judgment is to be a slave, not a free man. It is from this fact that the liberal arts acquire their name.”

Reading is like having a dialogue, the only difference is that here; the reader has the last word. As readers, we owe authors a considered and just judgment, this means that we should suspend our assumptions, understand, and have grounds for disagreeing. Taking into account that: “There is no book so good that no fault can be found on it.”

Adler mentions that readers need to be responsible and responsible. In the end we are the only ones responsible and accountable for every one of our actions.

RULE 9: YOU MUST BE ABLE TO SAY, WITH REASONABLE CERTAINTY “I UNDERSTAND”, BEFORE YOU CAN SAY ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING THINGS: “I AGREE”, OR “I DISAGREE”, OR “I SUSPEND JUDGMENT.”

RULE 10: WHEN YOU SISAGREE, DO SO REASONABLY, AND NOT DISPUTATIOUSLY OR CONTENTIOUSLY.

Most people think that winning an argument is more important than learning the truth. Aristotle remarks in the Ethics “It would be thought to be better, indeed to be our duty, for the sake of maintaining the truth even to destroy what touches us closely, especially as we are philosophers or lovers of wisdom; for, while both are dear, piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.” The only way in which we can win an argument is by gaining knowledge. Disagreement is worthless unless it is undertaken with the hope that it may lead to a resolution of a problem or a fairer approximation of the truth. Adler makes a call on humility by saying that we have to take into account that in any conversation one can be taught.

“We hold that knowledge can be communicated and that discussion can result in learning.”

RULE 11: RESPECT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND MERE PRESONAL OPINION, BY GIVING REASONS FOR ANY CRITICAL JUDGMENT YOU MAKE. –Opinion is any unsupported judgment-

Chapter 11: Agreeing or disagreeing with an author:

The first thing we need to do is to understand the author, but sometimes saying “I don’t understand” is a critical remark to the sequence and logic of the author’s arguments. Real reading is about reaching significant agreement or disagreement with the author. Misinterpret disagreement is irrelevant.

Prejudice and Judgment: Reading is a discipline.

Accusations you can make to the author: *the author must give reasons for saying what he does, and so do you when you disagree with him.*

*the third stage of analytical reading*

Chapter 12: Aids to Reading:

“It is best to do all that you can by yourself before seeking outside help; for if you act consistently on this principle, you will find that you need less and less outside help. “

But, whenever you really don’t understand what a book is saying or part of it, after you have done your best according to all the rules presented before by Adler, you can ask for outside help or use the extrinsic reading (“any aid to reading that lies outside the book being read”.).

Four categories of extrinsic aids to reading:

Common Experience: is available to all men.

Special Experience: must be sought. E.x: work on a laboratory, a visit to “El Mirador” or the Moon.

PART 3: APPROACHES TO DIFFERENT KINDS OF READING MATTER

Chapter 13: How to Read Practical Books:

What is a practical book? Any book that contains rules-prescriptions, maxims, or nay sort of general directions-. With this said, there are two types of practical books: 1)Present rules, whatever other discussion they contain is for the sake of the rules. 2)Principles that generate rules. E.x. books of economics, politics or morals.

The advice on asking questions while you read is applied to every kind of book. So Adler gives us 4 questions that help us understand what the authors of practical books are saying. The first two are the same that were stated before, and the last 2 are a bit changed:

Chapter 14: How to read imaginative literature

“The beauty of any work of art is related to the pleasure it gives us when we know it well.”

It pleases rather than teaches. But it is not so easy to know exactly why you are pleased by reading a certain book.

–Lyric: representation of a concrete experience. It attempts to re-create that experience in the reader.

Chapter 15: Suggestions for reading stories, plays, and poems

Stories: Ideally, and in order to grasp the unity of the whole, a story should be read at one sitting or at least in the shortest time plausible. We should also be careful to distinguish those books that satisfy our own particular unconscious needs before saying that a story is good. Good stories remain liked by most during long periods of time because what they wished to say is still and forever true.

EPIC Recommendations –literally-: Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid (Virgil), Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost (Milton).

Plays: Are only apprehended when acted on stage, so the reader must supply that dimension and while reading it, make a pretense of seeing it acted. They are better read aloud, slowly and with expression.

Tragedies: remember that there is never enough time in tragedies, so the characters have to make very important decisions in a very short time. Imagine every detail that the author describes!

Poetry: Words that are arranged in a more or less orderly and disciplined way. First, read it through without stopping; second, read it out loud; third, read it over and over and over again. Any good lyric poem has a unity.

Chapter 16: How to Read History

All history is written from some point of view. It is a mixture of facts and the arrangement of facts. Some people, like Tolstoy believe that the causes of human action are so complex and hidden that it is impossible to know why anything ever happened. Adler points out that if one at least wants to understand an event or period, it is necessary to ready more than one account of it. This will teach you how men acted in the past and how they act in all times and places, including our present times.

Questions to ask:

Biography and Autobiography: Narrative account of the life of someone; is a history of a person or a group of people. Autobiographies reveal much more of the author’s soul.

*definitive biography: mostly written after the person is death. The author gathers all the materials he’s got from the person. Is the scholastic version of a biography.

*authorized biography: Are many times biased to make the person seem better than what he/she really is. Mamones.

Current Events: We can’t know everything, we can’t know if what we think we know is true; “and yet we must try to know, so far as that is possible.”

Chapter 17: How to Read Science and Mathematics

“an activity of the mind that is essential to education, the central aim of which has always been recognized, from Socrates day down to our own, as the freeing of the mind through the discipline of wonder.”

Adler says that he is teaching how to read scientific and mathematical classics and some modern popularizations. In those days, when there was no institutionalized specialization, all scientific and mathematical books were written for laymen, for anyone that could read them. More modern books on these topics are written only for the people in the same field of study as the author.

Science: If you really want to understand science you must follow really closely the experiment that the scientist did, so you can get the inductive part which is so characteristic of science. It is even better if you re-do the experiments or if you visit a lab or someplace where the experiments are being done.

-Inductive: propositions that can be observed from the evidence

-Deductive: propositions proved by other propositions already “established”.

Math: Adler reminds us that mathematic is a language and that it is the less biased language from feeling that has ever existed. He talks a lot about the beauty and satisfaction you can get from it, because of its abstraction and symbols, and he says that Euclid’s Elements are simply beautiful. If someone is willing to give The Elements a chance, I would recommend reading pages: 262-264 as an introduction to how Euclid works and as a sort of inspiration to push forward in the harsh propositions.

Chapter 18: How to Read Philosophy

Philosophy tries to answer questions of: Being/existence, change, Necessity and contingency, Physical and nonphysical, Human knowledge, Free will, Good and evil, Right and wrong, Virtue and vices, Happiness, Justice, Individuals and society, Life’s goal or purpose. The philosophical problem is to try to explain, not describe, the nature of things. The main aid to reading philosophy is to THINK on what the authors say. The main aid is our mind itself. All these philosophical questions in the end must be answered by the person who is willing to read more about them. The best you can do is read more than one philosopher on a specific subject.

Adler explains that we more or less have the same experience, but that what differences us from the great philosophers is that they have thought deeply on their experiences than the rest of us have. There are different ways in which these philosophers have impressed their thought forever… Here are the different categories:

Chapter 19: How to read Social Science

It is really hard to define what the social science are, it is as hard to define what type of book you are reading (of the first steps that should be taken). In social science it is important to read a particular matter or problem instead of a particular author or book because it is a very rapidly changing science. Adler also recommends reading the authors that influenced the author that you are trying to read, or at least to know something about them. Social science should be read syntopically.

Chapter 20: The Fourth Level of Reading: Syntopical Reading

Clarify your topic of study, do some research on the best books you can find regarding this topic by inspecting all of them. Pick the best ones, the ones that satisfy or seem to be able to answer you doubts or to give you enlightenment on your field of study. Finally these rules apply:

Chapter 21: Reading and the Growth of the Mind

Adler talks about a third group of books, books that help us to grow. These are the books that after you read them, close them for a while and think about them a lot, when you return to them you find more things in them that you didn’t find the first time you read them analytically.

common place book

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How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren (1972)

Reader and writer are active, what is passive is the book like the analogy with baseball, catcher and pitcher are faster, the ball is passive.
The Goals of Reading: reading for information and reading for understanding.

The first sense is the one in which we speak of ourselves as reading newspapers, magazines, or anything else that, according to our skill and talents, is at once thoroughly intelligible to us. Such things may increase our store of information but they cannot improve our understanding.

The second sense is the one in which tries to read something that at first he does not understand.

By learning is meant understanding more, not remembering more information that has the same degree of intelligibility as other info you possess.

Reading as Learning : The difference between learning by instruction and Learning by Discovery.
To be informed is to know simply that something is the case to be enlightened is to know, in addition, what it is all about, why it is the case, what its connections are with other facts, in what respects it is the same, in what respects it is different and so forth. This distinction is familiar in terms of the differences between being able to remember something and being able to explain it.
If you remember what an author says, you have learned something about the world. But whether it is a fact about a book or a fact about the world that you have learned, you have gained nothing but information if you have exercised only your memory. You have not been enlightened.
Enlightenment is achieved only when, in addition to knowing what an author says, you know what he means and why he says it.
Being informed is prerequisite to been enlightened. The point, however is not to stop at being informed.

chapter 3- The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading
STAGES OF LEARNING TO READ

STAGES AND LEVELS

It is of paramount importance to recognize that the four stages outlined here all the stages of the first level of reading, as outlined in the previous chapter.
They are stages of elementary reading.

CHAPTER 4- The second level of reading: Inspectional reading

Inspectional Reading is a true level of Reading.
Inspectional reading is a true level of reading. You must be able to read an author’s text more or less steadily, without having to stop to look up the meaning of many words.

Inspectional Reading I: Systematic skimming or Pre-reading.

Skimming or pre-reading is the first level of inspectional reading. Your main aim is to discover whether the book requires a mere careful reading. Secondly, skimming can tell you lots of other things about the book, even if you decide not to read it again with more care.
The habit of skimming should not take much time to acquire.

1. Look at the title page and if the book has one, at its preface. READ EACH QUICKLY. Note especially the subtitles or other indications of the scope or aim of the book or of the author’s special angle on his subject.
2. Study the table of contents to obtain a general sense of the book’s structure, use it as you would use a road map before taking a trip.
3. Check the index if the book has one – most expository works do. make a quick estimate of the range of topics covered and of the kinds of books and authors referred to.
4. If the book is a new one with a dust jacket, read the publisher’s BLURB.
5. Look now at the chapters that seem to be pivotal to its argument. If these chapter have summary statements in their opening of closing pages, as they often do, read them.
6. Finally, turn the pages, dipping in here and there, reading a paragraph or two, sometimes several pages in sequence, never more than that.
Think of yourself as a detective looking for clues to a book’s general theme or idea, alert for anything that will make it clearer.
Inspectional Reading II: Superficial Reading

What is the right approach? In tackling a difficult book for the first time, read it through without ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away.
pay attention to what you understand and do not be stopped by what you cannot immediately grasp. Read the book through, undeterred and undismayed by the paragraphs, footnotes, comments, and references that escape you.
Reading footnotes when prematurely, they only impede our reading, instead of helping it.
If you insist on understanding, everything on every page before you go on to the text, you will not get very far.

ON READING SPEEDS
A good speed reading course should therefore teach you to read at many different speeds, not just one speed that is faster than anything you can manage now.
Inspectional reading is faster- analytical reading is ordinarily much slower than inspectional reading, but even wen you are giving a book on analytical reading.

Fixations and Regretions. Speed vs Comprehension
Summary of Inspectional Reading: Every book should be read no more slowly that it deserves and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.
Skimming or pre-reading a book is always a good idea, it is necessary when you don’t know if the book is worth reading carefully.

Finally, do not try to understand every word or page of a difficult book the first time through. Race through even the hardest book, you will then be prepared to read it well the second time.

CHAPTER 5- THE SECOND LEVEL OF READING: INSPECTIONAL READING

Keep awake. Read as active as possible

The Essence of Active Reading: The four basic questions a reader asks.

Ask questions while you read – question that you yourself must try t answer in the course of reading.
– What is the book about as a whole?
– What is being said in detail and how?
– Is the book true, in the whole or part?
– what of it? If the book has given you information, you must ask about its significance, Why does the author think it is important to know these things?
Knowing what the four questions are is not enough. You must remember to ask them as you read. The habit of doing that is the mark of a demanding reader.

How to make a Book your Own.

The 3 kinds of Note-Making

the notes you make at this level of reading are, therefore not structural but conceptual. They concern the author’s concepts, and also your own, a s they have been deepened, or broadened b your reading of the book.
1. Note-making structural. structure of the book
2. Conceptual
3. Shape of the discussion: syntopical reading or dialectical
Forming the Habit of Reading
Now there is not other way of forming a habit of operation than by operating. That is what it means to say and learns to do by doing.
After practice, you can do the same thing much better than when you started.

PART II. THE THIRD OF READING: ANALYTICAL READING.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CLASSIFYING BOOKS: The first rule of analytical reading: You must know what kind of book you are reading, and you should know this as early in the process as possible, preferably before you begin to read.
WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THE TITLE OF A BOOK: One reason why titles and prefaces are ignored by many readers is that they do not think it us important to classify the books they are reading. They do not follow this first rule of analytical reading.
PRACTICAL VS THEORETICAL BOOKS: We must pass from knowing ‘what is the case’ to knowing ‘what to do about it if we wish to get somewhere’. this can be summarized in the disconnection between knowing ‘that’ and knowing how theoretical books teach you ‘that’ something is the case. Practical books teach you how to do something you want to do or think you should do.
KINDS OF THEORETICAL BOOKS: The traditional subdivision of theoretical book classifies them as history, science or philosophy. If a theoretical book emphasizes things that lie outside the scope of your normal routine, daily experience, it is a scientific work. If not, it is philosophical.
Now, just as there is a difference in the art of teaching in different fields, so there is a reciprocal difference in the art of being taught. the activity of the student must somehow be responsive to the activity of the instructor. The relation between books and their reader is the same as that between teachers and their students.
X-RAYING A BOOK: Rule 2. State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at most a few sentences. This means that you must say what the whole book is about as briefly as possible.
Rule 3. Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole.
Mastering the Multiplicity: the art of outlining a book.
The requirement that you outline the parts of a book, and show how they exemplify and develop the main theme, is thus supportive of your statement of the book’s unity.
Discover The Author’s Intentions.
Rule 4 : Find out what the author’s problems were the author of a book starts with a question or a set of questions. The book ostensibly contains the answer of answers.

The first Stage of Analytical Reading.
1. Classify the book according to kind and subject matter.
2. State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity.
3. Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.
4. Define the problem or problems the author trying to solve.
Coming to Terms with an Author
Coming to terms is the first step beyond the outline.

A term is not a word-at least, not just a word without further qualifications. If a term and a word were exactly the same, you would only have to find the important words in a book in order to come to terms with it.

RULE 5 Find the important words and through them come to terms with the author.
You cannot locate the key words without making an effort to understand the passage in which they occur. If you mark the words that trouble you, you may hit the very ones the author is using specially.

FINDING THE MEANINGS

The answer is that you have to discover the meaning of a word you do not understand by using the meanings of all the other words in the context that you do not understand.
The surrounding words are the context for the words to be interpreted. The reader has all the material he needs to do the job.
If you make a list in one column of the important words, and in another of their important meanings, you will see the relation between the vocabulary and the terminology.

determining an author’s Message.
His propositions are nothing but expressions of personal opinions unless they are supported by reasons.

SENTENCES VS PREPOSITIONS

Sentences and paragraphs are grammatical units, They are units of language. Propositions and arguments are logical units, or units of thought and knowledge.
Propositions are the answer to questions. They are declaration of knowledge or opinion. That is why we call sentences that express them declarative, and distinguish sentences that ask questions as interrogative.
Rule 5 : Fine the important words and come to terms.
Rule 6: mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they contain.
Rule 7: Locate or construct the basic argument in the book by finding them in the connection of sentences.

Finding the Arguments.
Find if you can the paragraphs in a book that state its important arguments are not thus expressed, your task is to construct them, by taking a sentence from this paragraph, and one from that until you have gathered together the sequence of sentences that state the proposition that compose the argument.

Rule 8. Find out what the author’s solution are when you have applied this rule, and the three that precede it in interpretive reading, you can feel reasonably sure that you have managed to understand the book.

CRITICIZING BOOK FAIRLY

Bacon’s recommendation to the reader: “ Read not to contradict and confute; not to believe and take for granted, not to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider”.
Rule 9. You must be able to say, with reasonable certainty, ‘I understand’ before you can say one of the following things: I agree or I disagree or I suspend judgment.
Rule 10: when you disagree, do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or contentiously. There is no point in winning an argument if you know or suspect you are wrong.
Rule 11: Respect the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion, by giving reasons for any critical judgment to make knowledge, if you please, consists in those opinions that can be defended, opinions for which there is evidence of one kind or another. If we really know something, in this sense, we must believe that we convince others of what we know.

AGREEING OR DISAGREEING WITH AN AUTHOR
the first thing a reader can say is that he understand or that he does not. In fact, he must say he understand in order to say more.

If you have not been able to show that the author is uninformed, misinformed or illogical on relevant matters, you simply cannot disagree.
You cannot say, as many students and other do, “ I find nothing wrong with your premises, and no errors in reasoning, but I don’t agree with your conclusions”. All you can possibly mean by saying some thing like that is that you do not like the conclusions. You are not disagreeing. You are expressing your emotions and prejudice.

Too often, we use that phrase to mean that quantity rather than the quality of reading. A person who has read widely but not well deserves to be pitied rather than praised.

THE ROLE OF RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Common experience is available to all men and women just because they are alive. Special experience must be actively sought and Is available only to those who go to the trouble of acquiring it.
not only are many of the great books related, but also they were written in a certain order that should not be ignored. A later writer has been influenced by an earlier one. Reading related books in relation to one another and in order that renders the later one more intelligible is a basic common-sense maxim of extrinsic reading.

HOW TO USE COMMENTARIES AND ABSTRACTS
Reading a commentary, particularly one that seems very self-assured, thus tends to limit your understanding of a book, even if your understanding as far as it goes is correct.
The ordering of knowledge has changed with the centuries. All knowledge was once ordered in relation to the seven liberal arts –grammar, rhetoric, and logic; the trivium.; arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, the quadrivium

GENERAL RULES FOR READING IMAGINATE LITERATURE
The first group consists of rules for discovering the unity and part-whole structure, the second consists of rules for identifying and interpreting the books component terms, propositions, and arguments, the third consists of rules for criticizing the author’s doctrines so that we can reach intelligent agreement or disagreement with him. We called these 3 groups of rules structural, interpretive, and critical. By analogy we can find similar sets of rules to guide us in reading form, novels and plays.
1. You must classify a work of imaginative literature according to its kind. A lyric tells its story primarily in terms of a single emotional experience, whereas novels and plays have much more complicated plots, involving many characters, their actions and their reactions upon one another, as well as the emotions they suffer in the process.
2. You must group the unity of the whole book. “ you have not grasped the whole story until you can summarize its plot in a brief narration – not a proposition or an argument”.
3. You must not only reduce the whole to its simplest unity, but you must also discover how that whole is constructed out of all is parts. The parts of an expository book are concerned with parts of the whole problem, the partial solutions contributing to the solution of the whole.

Second, what are the interpretative rules of fiction?
1. The elements of fiction are its episodes and incidents, its character, and their thoughts, speeches, feelings, and actions. Each of these is an element in the world the author created. By manipulating these elements, the author tells his story.
2. Terms are connected in propositions. The elements of fiction are connected by the total scene of background against which they stand out in relief.
3. If there is any motion in an expository book, it is the movement of the argument, a logical transition from evidences and reasons to the conclusions they support.

HOW TO READ STORIES
Read it quickly and with total immersion. Ideally, a story should be read at one sitting, although this is rarely possible for busy people with big novels.

SYNTOPICAL READING: FINDING THE RELEVANT PASSAGES.
1. in syntopical reading, it is you and your concerns that are primarily to be served, not the books that you read. Your aim is to find the passages in the books that are most germane to your needs.
2. Bringing the authors to terms: identity key words and discover how he uses them
3. Getting the questions clear: Find the author’s key sentences, and from them to develop an understanding of his propositions.
4. Define the Issues.
5, Analyzing the Discussion

Mental Pivot

Notes and observations from a lifelong pursuit of learning.

Book Notes: “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

Summary

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren (1972 edition) is a book about a subject that we book-readers consider all too infrequently—the very act of reading books. The authors identify three main types of reading: reading for entertainment, reading for information and reading for increased understanding. The methods described in How to Read a Book focus on this last category: expository works that bring enlightenment to the reader.

The authors assert that outcome of active reading should be “increased understanding.” To achieve this objective, readers must employ a number of cognitive skills; skills that are rarely considered by even the most educated individuals. Fortunately for us, the authors have codified these skills into a framework they have coined the “four levels of reading.”

The first level is elementary reading, basic grammar, vocabulary and literacy (this is the foundation for the other levels). The authors lament that most of us never move past this first level of aptitude. The second level is inspectional reading. This is the ability to skim a book, in a fixed amount of time, in order to glean the key arguments and concepts. The third level is analytical reading which is a subsequent reading (after the inspectional stage) whereby the reader dives deeper into the author’s message. The fourth and final level is called “syntopical reading.” This type of reading involves teasing out new ideas or themes from a number of books rather than a single one. For instance, this is the type of reading one might perform in order to write a book or dissertation.

How to Read a Book is divided into four parts. Parts One and Two describe the authors’ approach to reading and the first three levels of reading. Part Three, the weakest part of the book, describes the application of the system to specific genres and categories of books. Part Four describes the fourth level of reading. The best material in the book can be found in Parts One and Two. If detailed examples of the system in action are desired, there is a solid appendix with some sample analyses.

This is a tough book to rate. The subject matter is fascinating to me but the execution of the book falls short. A couple of factors work against the authors. First, the original edition of the book dates from the 1940s. It was revised in 1972, but the prose remains old-fashioned and sexist. Explanations that might be more forthright in contemporary hands are meandering and obtuse. Moreover, there is the underlying problem that many of the discussion points remain overly abstract and vague (the authors would most certainly place the blame on the reader on this point, but I imagine other readers might share this criticism).

This book will force you to think carefully about how you read books. There are some practical takeaways from the methodology presented (such as the analytical questions one should ask when reading). I also found the discussion of “inspectional reading” (a type of reading I had never really given much thought) to be enlightening and I plan to employ this type of reading in the future. The downside is that this isn’t a fun book to read in any way. I was enlightened, but I didn’t enjoy the experience.

Pros: The notion of thinking about reading is under appreciated and overlooked. I laud the authors’ efforts to push readers to improve this essential skill.

Cons: The prose is old-fashioned for 21st century readers. This is not a fun read.

Verdict: 6/10

Notes & Highlights

Part One: The Dimensions of Reading

Chapter 1: The Activity and Art of Reading

Chapter 2: The Levels of Reading

Chapter 3: The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading

The first stage of elementary reading—reading readiness—corresponds to pre-school and kindergarten experiences.

The second stage—word mastery—corresponds to the first grade experience.

The third stage of elementary reading—vocabulary growth and the utilization of context—is typically acquired at about the end of the fourth grade of elementary school (e.g. “functional literacy”).

The fourth and final stage of reading is attained in junior high school…the child…is now capable of reading almost anything, but still in a relatively unsophisticated manner.

Chapter 4: The Second Level of Reading: Inspectional Reading

Chapter 5: How to Be a Demanding Reader

1. WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT AS A WHOLE? Discover the leading theme of the book.
2. WHAT IS BEING SAID IN DETAIL, AND HOW? Discover the main ideas, assertions and arguments.
3. IS THE BOOK TRUE, IN WHOLE OR PART?
4. WHAT OF IT?

1. Underlining (to emphasize statements)
2. Vertical lines at the margin (to emphasize passages)
3. Star, asterisk, or other margin markings (to emphasize passages)
4. Numbers in the margin (to indicate sequence of points)
5. Numbers of other pages in the margin (to reference related points found elsewhere in the book)
6. Circling of key words or phrases
7. Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page (to record questions and salient thoughts)

1. Structural notes: notes about the structure of the book
2. Conceptual notes notes about the author’s ideas/subject matter
3. Shape of the discussion notes: comparative notes in which other authors ideas are assessed alongside the current book.

Part Two: Third Level of Reading: Analytical Reading

Chapter 6: Pigeonholing a Book

Chapter 7: X-Raying a Book

This is an inquiry into the source of national wealth in any economy that is built on a division of labor, considering the relation of the wages paid labor, the profits returned to capital, and the rent owed the landowner, as the prime factors in the price of commodities. It discusses the various ways in which capital can be more or less gainfully employed, and relates the origin and use of money to the accumulation and employment of capital. Examining the development of opulence in different nations and under different conditions, it compares the several systems of political economy, and argues for the beneficence of free trade.

1. Classify the book according to kind and subject matter.
2. State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity.
3. Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.
4. Define the problem or problems the author is trying to solve.

Chapter 8: Coming to Terms with an Author

Chapter 9: Determining an Author’s Message

a. Every argument involves a number of statements (some are reasons for why the reader should accept a conclusion).
b. Discriminate between deductive and inductive arguments. Inductive reasoning will use particular facts as evidence for a generalization. Deductive reasoning will use a series of general statements to support another generalization.
c. Observe the author’s assumptions. Which ones are provable or supported by evidence and which ones are “self-evident” (and possibly fallacious or unproven).

1. Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words.
2. Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences.
3. Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
4. Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and as to the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve.

Chapter 10: Criticizing a Book Fairly

1. Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book.
2. Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously.
3. Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgment you make.

Chapter 11: Agreeing or Disagreeing with an Author

1. Show wherein the author is uninformed.
2. Show wherein the author is misinformed.
3. Show wherein the author is illogical.
4. Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete.

Chapter 12: Aids to Reading

Part Three: Approaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter

Chapters 13-19: [Concerning Different Genres]

Part Four: The Ultimate Goals of Reading

Chapter 20: The Fourth Level of Reading: Syntopical Reading

Step 1: Finding the relevant passages. “In synoptical reading, it is you and your concerns that are primarily to be served, not the books that you read.”
Step 2: Bringing the authors to terms. “You [the reader] must establish the terms, and bring your authors to them rather than the other way around…it really comes down to forcing an author to use your language, rather than using his.”
Step 3: Getting the questions clear. “The first questions usually have to do with the existence or character of the phenomenon or idea we are investigating.”
Step 4: Defining the issues. “An issue is truly joined when two authors who understand a question in the same way answer it in contrary or contradictory ways.” When this doesn’t happen (because of different conceptions of the question), the “task of the synoptical reader is to define the issues in such a way as to insure that they are joined as well as may be.”
Step 5: “Analyze the discussion by ordering the questions and issues in such a way as to throw maximum light on the subject. More general issues should precede less general ones, and relations among issues should be clearly indicated.”

Chapter 21: Reading and the Growth of the Mind