Title How to Read a Book
Author Mortimer J. Adler
Year Published 1972
Kind of Book How-to/Education
How strongly I recommend it 10/10
My Impressions This is a classic book about how to get more out of the books you read. Adler talks about the motivations of the reader, the types of books that exist, the different ways to read different kinds of books, reading strategies, coming to terms with an author, and much more. The book is a little pretentious in tone, but worth every bit of it.
Date Read 2018 and 2020
Practical Takeaways
Use a pencil or a finger to read
Force your finger or pencil to go a little faster than you are accustomed to
Be an active reader. Think of yourself like a catcher and the writer the pitcher.
“Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author.” // ask him questions in the margin? Call him on his bullshit. Ask him what his sources are for his claims
Demand more of yourself and the text in front of you when reading
Aim to be caught by the reader when you're writing
Don't be a sophomore ie. Widely read, but not well read
Read few books well rather than many books poorly-Thomas Hobbes
Don't give every book the same amount of time and attention
Do all that you can do by yourself before seeking outside help
Don't look up words while you're reading, just keep going and look them up later
Ask the author questions in the margins
Don't teach a child to read before he's ready
Study the table of contents first
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.
Read the things slower that you should read slowly and things faster that you should read faster
Write out what terms authors use for common terms.
Pause over the sentences that puzzle you, not the ones that interest you
Don't read in dim light
Mark a book when you read
Number in the margin-to indicate a sequence of points made by the author in developing an argument
"You need not follow the apparent structure of a book as indicated by its chapter divisions"
Do a close analysis of the author's argument, then write it in standard form
Try to say what the whole book is about as briefly as possible
Make your book as readable as possible
Aim for unity, clarity, and coherence when writing
State what you read in your own words
Do not talk back until you have listened carefully and are sure you understand
Be able to say 'I understand' before you say 'I agree' or 'I disagree'
If you don't understand, keep your peace and go back to work on the book
When you are criticizing; State whether the author is uninformed, misinformed, or illogical
Always read more than one history of an event
Inspect all books on your list before reading any of them analytically
As a syntopical reader; Look at all sides and take no side
During your first reading, read the book all the way through without stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away. (You will have a much better chance understanding it on a second reading, but that requires you to have read the book through at least once.)
“Race through even the hardest book [during the first reading].”
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 long novels. Nevertheless, the ideal should be approximated by compressing the reading of a good story into as short a time as feasible. Otherwise you will forget what happened, the unity of the plot will escape you, and you will be lost.”pg218
// think of trying to watch a play or movie in 10 minute sittings over the course of several months
How to skim or Pre-Read
Look at the Title page and its Preface
Study the Table of Contents
Check the Index
Read the Publishers Blurb
Look at the Chapters that seem to be pivotal to its argument
Flip through the pages and read a paragraph or page here and there.
Read the last few paragraphs of the book (few authors are able to resist the temptation to sum up what they think is new and important about the book in these last couple of paragraphs
Ways to write in your book
1)Underlining- major points; of importance or forceful statements
2)Vertical Lines at the Margin to emphasize a statement too long to be underlined
4)Numbers in the margin- to indicate a sequence of points made by the author in developing an argument
Step by Step Guide for How to Read a Book
Step 1: Determine your motivation for reading. (Entertainment, Knowledge, or Understanding?)
If your motivation is Entertainment: fuck off and enjoy your book! If your goal is Knowledge: these steps aren't relevant to you either . If your goal is understanding: proceed to step 2.
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Inspectional Reading
Step 2: Do an Inspectional Reading of the book (AKA: skimming/Pre-Reading)
Inspectional Reading (skimming/pre-reading) steps
Look at the title page and preface
Study the table of contents
Check the index for key terms and references
Read the publisher's blurb *or Amazon reviews or critics reviews
Look at the chapters that are pivotal (seek summary paragraphs and read those)
Flip to random sections reading no more than a page or two at a time
*your goals during inspectional reading are to determine what the book is about, the authors writing style, the main thesis of the book, and ultimately whether or not you want to read it.
After doing an inspectional read..
Step 3: Determine whether or not you'd like read the book.
If not: put that shit back on the shelf. If so, proceed to step 4
*note: analytical reading can be a long & time-consuming process so it is good to be selective about which books you choose to read.
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Analytical Reading
Step 4 Ask yourself a few questions about the book before you read the book:
what kind of book is it according to subject matter? (History, Philosophy, Novel, Biography, etc.)
see sections on how to read specific kinds of books)
Is the book true? (yes, no, partially) fiction or nonfiction?
Is it a theoretical book a practical book or both? “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.”
See sections on how to read theoretical vs practical book
Step 5 Do a Superficial Reading of the book
Quickly Read through the entire book. Don't stop to look up words, terms, references etc. Just get through it. (Speed reading would fit in here)
While doing a superficial reading be asking yourself the following questions;
What is the book about? (in as few sentences as possible)
What problem or problems is the author trying to solve?
Step 6 Do a brief analysis of the book
Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.
Make explicit the questions the author is trying to answer or problems he is trying to solve
Step 7 Re-read the book analytically at a slower pace.
*use a pencil to mark the book as you read
Step 8 Do a full analysis of the Book
Underline the most important sentences in the book and discover the propositions they contain
Locate or construct the basic arguments the book contains *you can write them in standard form if it is helpful
Find out what the author's solutions are. Determine if there are problems he does not have solutions for.
Step 9 Criticize the Book
How to criticize a book fairy
Do not read the book with the aim of disagreeing or agreeing with the author
Explicitly state all of your prejudices on the subject of the book
List all of the prejudices you think the author might have
//these steps could probably be taken before you read the book too.
Make sure you fully understand the author before you criticize the book
Step 10: Determine whether you believe the author is misinformed, uninformed, or deluded/illogical/unreasonable?
Big Ideas
Three goals people have when reading: Entertainment, attain Knowledge, and/or Understanding
The writer must be ‘superior' to the reader in understanding, and his book must convey in readable form the insights he possesses and his potential readers lack.
the reader or listener is like the catcher in a game of baseball. Catching the ball is just as much an activity as pitching it.
All learning Requires effort
Teaching a child to read before he or she is ready will make them frustrated and have a negative impression of reading later in life
Reading may be the most astonishing things humans can do
Understanding half of a really tough book is much better than not understanding it at all.
Many people read things too slowly, that they ought to read faster. But many people read some things too fast, that they ought to read slower
“The philosophy teacher usually finds it easier to teach students who have not been previously taught by his colleagues, whereas the scientist prefers the student whom his colleagues have already prepared.”
“The best books are also the most readable.”
“There are only a small number of plots in the world. The difference between good and bad stories...lies in what the author does with it, how he dress up the bare bones.”
The author of a book starts with a question or a set of questions. The book ostensibly contains the answers.
It is reading DEEPLY not WIDELY that makes a person intelligent
Surprising Facts
The eye is blind when it moves. It can only see when it stops
Unknown Terms
Sophomores: The Greeks term for literate Ignoramuses. Those people who read widely and not well.
Superficial Reading: Reading a book all the way through without stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away
Analytic Reading: Reading that is preeminently for the sake of understanding. i.e chewing and digesting a book.
Syntopical Reading (Comparative Reading): Reading many different books or sources amongst a single subject in order to compare and contrast their ideas. ____reading adds the extra step of constructing an analysis of the subject.
Theoretical Books: Books that teach you that something is the case 2) Theoretoical books use the word "is" not "should"
Practical Books: Books that teach you how to do something you want to do or think you should do. 2) Practical books use words like should, ought, good, bad 3) Practical books often have books with “the art of” or “how to” in their titles 4) Any guidebook is a practical book. Any book that tells you either what you should do or how to do it is practical.”5) Any ethical work teaches us how to live our lives.”pg67 (therefore is practical
Trivium: a group of studies consisting of grammar, rhetoric, and logic and forming the lower division of the seven liberal arts in medieval universities