Mortimer J. Adler

Charles Van Doren

With half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader, completely rewritten and updated with new material. A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done.” –Farheed Zakaria Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text. Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science works. Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests you can use measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.

How to Read a Book

If you wanna read more actively and analytically, this is the one. Practical and helpful.

Aksara

A practical book arguing for analytical ways of reading and putting books, articles, plays, encyclopedias, Great Books™️, and more into context and how to come to terms with an author.

I found the section on how to mark and note the pages of a book to be useful.

Double Feature: "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read" - Pierre Bayard

J Kadow

A practical book arguing for analytical ways of reading and putting books, articles, plays, encyclopedias, Great Books™️, and more into context and how to come to terms with an author.

I found the section on how to mark and note the pages of a book to be useful.

Double Feature: "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read" - Pierre Bayard

Squid

Very well put together and inspiring for those who want to read for understanding rather than entertainment and get more out of what they read. Clearly written by someone so passionate about literature, makes you excited to embark on the journey of taking on older classics. 

lelayna

matej yangwao

Actually, I'm impressed by structure of book and particular parts of book, how descriptive they're are. 

Really easy and thoughtful reading 

If it's book how to read book, you can reverse it to how to write book 😄

Either I'm really dumb or this book provides few golden rules on to reading books 

Probably worth book rereading once again in decade.

Obviously lots of facts you observe whenever you pass your 50 or 100 book you notice some nuance of reading, this book highlight these and confirms or decline your assumptions about essential of reading, well made.

Few notes definitely taken 😁

>The idea behind reading a book is to know its contents, but that’s not enough. Alongside learning the contents, you must know the author’s intentions, the open messages and hidden ones, and why the book is talking about what it’s talking about.

>The media carefully chooses their selected agenda and creates propaganda written to control the reader.

>In essence, the media causes people to form opinions with the way they report ‘news.’.

>When you recall something from a book, you have learned it, but when you understand what you’ve learned from that book, then you’re enlightened.

>Inspectional Reading. This level deals with time. Here, the reader is given time to complete a book or a page.

>Analytical Reading. Analytical reading is thorough and complete. The reader must take the time to really read the book and ask questions.

>Syntopical Reading. This is the most complex of all reading levels. It tasks its reader and makes comprehensive demands in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Here, the reader reads many books to expand their knowledge on any given subject. Syntopical reading, however, is the most rewarding level of reading because it helps the reader fully comprehend the subject.

>There are four main questions you must ask about any book you’re reading. They are:
• What is the book about as a whole? Here, you’re trying to discover the book’s central theme and the author’s writing style.
• What is being said in detail, and how? You must find out the main ideas and the point of view of the author.
• Is the book true, in whole or part? Knowing the author’s mind is not enough. You must form opinions of your own, and this is only possible when you understand the book.
• What of it? You must examine the significance of the book and the author’s intent.

>The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.

>One of the most effective ways of reading a book is by writing in it. You get full ownership of a book when you’re able to communicate with the author.

>Writing in your book with a pencil helps keep you awake, and it serves as a jot pad for you to go back to later.

>Several rules guide analytical reading. The first says that you must know what kind of book you’re reading from the start.

>It is crucial to classify books before you read them. Classification of books gives you a prepared knowledge of the kind of message you’ll receive from the book. To classify a book, you must pay attention to the title, subtitle, table of contents, preface or introduction, and the author’s note.

>Your job as an analytical reader is to find the hidden meanings and messages in a book.

>To find the hidden meanings, find a way to understand the author’s problems and try to solve them. Rule four states, “find out what the author’s problems were.”

>If the reader and the author fail to connect, the purpose of communication in the book is defeated.

>You also need to find the meanings of the words you have highlighted to give you more understanding.

>The sixth rule of analytical reading is marking the most important sentences in a book and discovering the proposition they contain. And rule seven suggests that you locate or construct the basic arguments in a book by finding them in the connection or sentences.

>After finding these sentences, the next stage is to find their propositions (their meanings). When you’ve discovered the meanings, then you move on to finding the author’s argument. You can know about the author’s argument by finding it in the sequential arrangement of his sentences.

>As much as you’re a responsive reader, you must also be a responsible reader.

>There’s no point in winning an argument in which you are wrong or have inadequate information.

>Personal experiences or events don’t determine the authenticity of a book. So, for every critical judgment you make, you must outline and demonstrate that you’re capable of discerning between personal opinion and stated knowledge. You must be able to separate facts from bias and intuition from data.

>For every judgment you make, you must create a critical analysis that supports your claim and understand why you agree with the author or not.

>From your point of view as a reader, the most important words are those that give you trouble. It is likely that these words are important for the author as well.

>Pick up every book you read with an open mind and never forget that books are the flawed creations of imperfect creatures.

>Don’t treat everything you read as fixed statements of fact. Understanding is a two-way operation. As a reader, you must question yourself and the author and be willing to argue with the author once you understand what they’re saying.

>Good reading broadens the horizon and teaches you more. So, to enjoy a book, you must first enjoy reading it. Efficient reading causes growth, which is why you should make a conscious effort to read well.

>Take notes as you read and question the author’s arguments. Then, draw your conclusions without using personal bias.

• Remember, activity is the essence of good reading — the more active you are, the better.

Analyzes the art of reading and suggests ways to approach literary works

Yash

This is a must-have book for any and every avid readers. Excellent and detailed piece on how-tos with any reading materials, not just books. It is a worthwhile investment for any book-readers to go back to once in a while. It made me survive med-school and yet, I still go back to it every time. Highly recommended.

Sarah Schumacher

Not sure how I feel about this book. A bit pretentious... like reading a grandiose description of how to tie a shoe.

What I got out of it:
- Skim books before reading.
- Ask questions as you read.

Appendices:
- List of recommended reading.
- Exercises to test reading levels.

Time will tell if the 15 rules for analytical reading actually improve comprehension of the content I shovel into my eyeballs.

Yeung Man Lung

this book is a very good read. It explicitly tells the reader that the book requires the readers to have a basic reading level and it aims to improve the reading efficiency of readers. Indeed the book is helpful. The skimming part of the inspectional reading is especially helpful to the person who is spending time overthinking parts that should not be worth the time. If you know the skills, you can quickly grab 50-60% of the essence of the books by using 10% of the usual reading time. 

I am also a quick reader and quick learner so I would say I kind of apply the skills to the book while I was reading this book. I found this book spends too much effort explaining why some steps or reading practices are important while those explanations are unnecessary in my point of view. People who understand the importance of the practices will understand. Therefore I read the book really fast.

Andrew Louis

Nelson Zagalo

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading é um livro de 1940, pertence a um mundo no qual não existia internet e em que a partilha deste tipo de informação funcionava melhor no formato de livro. O conteúdo do livro acaba tratando muito daquilo que ensinamos aos nossos alunos de mestrado e doutoramento, algo que hoje fazemos melhor por via de aulas e artigos curtos. Ou seja, ensina a ler profissionalmente e não por prazer, deste modo a generalidade do que aqui é dito destina-se à leitura de não-ficção, e apenas a Literatura no caso de quem a trabalha de modo analítico, e não por mero prazer. Assim, resenho aqui o livro no sentido de divulgar e servir aqueles que usam os livros e seus conteúdos com caráter académico e/ou profissional.

...
continua no blog, em: https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...

Kuba Milcarz

Wow that was packed with so many detail and technical aspects. But generally speaking it helped me organize the way I read books. I’ll be taking notes soon, but for sure analytical reading will stay with me. Even if I only use it to skim through books to get an idea whether it is worth it to read the whole thing.

Bryan Maniotakis

I'm glad that's over. I heard about this book in a podcast saying it would be a perfect primer for jumping into "the classics". I found Adler lacks a compelling writing style, often being verbose to the point where it started to become frustrating.

There were a few decent takeaways when it came to reading poetry and classic plays, but was lacking information where I was the most interested (philosophy). I just noticed the book is on blinkist—that might be a more approachable way to digest this thing.

Miriam Bauer

Very insightful. I'm confident it will be useful to me, as someone who is still rather new to university. 
One thing though: The author claims that, ideally, you should read a book in one sitting for ultimate understanding. However, this book definitely doesn't make this an easy task: it is rather wordy and often needlessly overly-academical.
Still, thanks to this book I feel very motivated right now to read something that is "over my head" and expand my mind.

Ivaylo Durmonski

Needing a book on how to read a book might sound absurd, I know. Yet, after taking the time to immerse myself in the work by Charles Van Doren & Mortimer J. Adler, I understand why this book had to be written.

The general population still believes that reading is a passive activity that should be performed mainly to relax your brain. But that’s not the case if you want to learn something from a written text.

How to Read a Book perfectly outlines the importance of reading. Why you should read to understand, not only to gain new information. And more importantly, how to take notes, use the text, and morph it into an actionable spreadsheet full of future steps that you need to take in order to improve your existence.

If you’re a vivid reader but your life, outside of the realms of pages full of important information remains unchanged, get this book. It will show you how to use books to make improvements in your life, not merely to gain more “life-changing” insights.

Practical lessons are present around every corner of the pages written by Charles Van Doren & Mortimer J. Adler. Yes, you can get lost here and there because the book was first published in 1930, meaning that some passages are quite formal-sounding, but the overall reading experience can be a real game-changer.

This book will teach you how to spot the critical parts in any text so you can act on them.

My key takeaway is this:

Ask questions while you go through any text. Reading shouldn’t be a passive activity. It should be like a conversation. You question the arguments laid down by the author and answer them to better understand what was said.

Full summary:
https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...

Christine Liu

I love to read (obviously, or I wouldn't be writing this) and I got my bachelor's degree in English Lit, so I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on how to read critically. Still, I found this book very insightful and got a lot out of it in terms of breaking down how to actively engage with any written work.

There's a difference between reading solely for entertainment and reading as an intellectual pursuit, and there's a further difference between reading to gain information and reading to gain understanding. The main point here is that reading is a pretty complex activity if you're doing it right, and it's meant to be active. Active reading (and along with it, learning) happens when you puzzle through your comprehension of what an author is trying to communicate. You go from a state of understanding less to a state of understanding more.

This book details the components of actively engaging with a book as a reader by breaking it up into four stages or types of reading. Elementary reading is the basic grammatical comprehension needed to read a book. Inspectional reading is getting an initial lay of the structure of what you're reading (what kind of book it is and what it's about as a whole). Analytical reading involves a conceptual deep dive into the book, asking and answering questions about the themes and their significance. And the final and most complex stage is syntopical reading, which is comparing and connecting different books about a common topic. As you read, you should get into the habit of asking yourself questions about how the author develops the main ideas that make up the theme of the book, and why it is significant to understand.

I enjoyed this book for the most part and found it an interesting and valuable resource, although I felt that the bulk of it is weighed down by the author's multiple layers of rules and overly long explanations of each of these rules. But I like the idea of approaching books according to process outlined here. My major takeaway is that I'll probably start reading more physical books so that I can take notes and also skim through and refer back to previous sections more easily.

Hugo Ahlberg

I found some chapters to be way too long and "in the weeds", but there are some really great gems in here which made me think differently about the various kinds of reading.. but it's wrapped in a rather dry and academic writing, so just a heads up. Also this book was written in 1940, while still very much applicable it obviously don't deal with how and what must of us read today — ebook and internet articles.

Palash Karia

Disclaimer: I skimmed through parts of this
Verdict: Should've read it (atleasted 'skimmed' it) sooner

My aim with reading this was to improve my reading habits in general, and specifically to read more about fiction.
Major takeaway for non-fiction
 - Figure out why you are reading - entertainment, information, or to develop understanding 
 – for fiction, what the book offers could be more than this

I read this in detail till the 'analytical' section rules, and then skimmed till chap 14 - which covers fiction.

I think Chapter 14, and the sections on epics, poetry & fiction, are some of the best parts of this book, although it can get a little difficult to understand at first. I had to come back to it & re-read a few times before everything really started falling into place. 

The reason why we read fiction, the reason why fiction even exists, the needs it satisfies – they were lost on me before.
I had practically never read much beyond Harry Potter – which was a familiar world, but the only one I knew. The examples evoked here do their job well. I'm now reading fiction, with an open mind, as this book suggests. I can't know what a book will offer, but it could be worth it. And there's only one way to find out.

How to Read a Book

Reviews