How to Read a Book

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Summary: Read this book before reading any others
Review: In reading a book, it is important to differentiate between the three levels: entertainment, information and understanding. Gathering facts is not the same as gaining insight. Learning is not the same as discovery. There are four types of reading, each building on the previous: elementary, inspectional, analytical and syntopical. Elementary reading is reading as a child. Inspectional reading includes: title page, preface, table of contents, index, publisher's notes and pivotal chapters. Dip in here and there and read the last few pages. This process should take no more than one hour. This is most important for expository works. Even a difficult book should be read through without stopping. Remember speed-reading is actually variable speeds of reading as appropriate to the book in hand. The four basic questions are, 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-significance? The first four rules of analytical reading are: 1:classify the book, 2: find the unity, a single short statement that captures it's essence. 3: analyze the parts of the book. 4:determine the problems the author is trying to solve. The next four rules are: 5: come to terms with the author through key words and phrases. Important words help to increase understanding enormously. The approach is both top down and bottom up. 6: find the most important sentences and discover their propositions. 7: locate the basic argument of the book from the key sentences. Restate this in your own words to confirm your understanding. 8; find the authors solutions. If a book is over your head it is an opportunity to increase your knowledge. The last 4 rules concern criticism. 9: you must be able to understand before you can criticize. 10: when you disagree do so reasonably. 11: respect the difference between knowledge and opinion. Read other criticisms only after you have read the book, this can be very pleasurable. 12; show where the author is uninformed, misinformed, illogical or incomplete. The three sets of rules of analytical reading are therefore: structural, interpretive and critical. Degree of difficulty x size of audience=constant appears to be a rule. Great comment on Plato: wherever I go in my mind I meet Plato coming back. Syntopical reading involves creating a tentative bibliography, reading all the books inspectionally. Short-list the relevant books. Bring the authors to common terms. Establish a set of neutral propositions. Define the issues and analysis to throw maximum light on the subject. Ask questions as a child would and try to answer them. There is no limit to the amount of growth and development that the mind can sustain. Bibliography could do with bringing up to date from 1970 when to revision was written.

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Summary: A wonderful guide to reading well
Review: It's a common misconception that a person who has read a large number of books is therefore "well read". To be in fact well read according to this book's author, would be indicated not by the amount of books read, but by how well the books were read. Reading well is what "How To Read A Book" is all about.

This book is a course on the anatomy of a book, the peeling of its contents in exposing the central theme or message of its author. This is accomplished by the structured, methodical autopsy performed by the reader, who, in extracting the central contents, is rewarded with a much deeper and increased understanding.

Reading is looked upon by the author as an art. The reading of a good book, one that stretches you mentally, takes a high degree of skill and is a major exertion. It is very active. The reader, armed with pen in hand, is taking notes, underlining principle ideas, noting structure, asking questions of the author, thinking, concentrating. It is by no means passive.

This book comes highly recommended and is a real treasure. It will be with you for life (I am currently on my second copy, the first having been retired and permanently shelved following much use). One final word of note- It is the authors' goal to present the "Ideal" form of reading, however it is also the authors' understanding that not many readers have the time nor the desire to read every book in this manner (given the unlimited amount of time in both analytical and syntopical readings described in the book, it could take years of study if a person elected to do so). It is the authors' assertion that "you are a good reader to the degree in which you approximate it".

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful, title notwithstanding
Review: My kids had a good laugh when they saw me reading this book. After all, I am reading all the time (even if I haven't written a review in almost a year!). But I'm about to go back to school--specifically seminary--and the powers that be recommended we read this book. Some of this was a little dry, and some of it dated (how, for example, should we read the information we gather on the Internet?), but I still find it helpful information as I get ready to plunge into the depths of theology. Some of which, I should point out, is pretty thick reading, indeed. I especially appreciate the advice of just plugging my way through the book once, then going back again. I appreciate the questions I should ask myself of the book I am reading. It helps me to get more out of the book, and it is helping me retain more of what I am reading. Someday, my kids will read this book, and I will have the last laugh!

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Summary: Now I know how to read, but...
Review: This book does everything its title promises and more. It will change the way I read forever.

Two quibbles, however:

1. Being someone who has a real job, sometimes I'm too tired to read well. I wish the book gave some advice on how to read when you're tired. Should you even bother? Or should you just forget about reading and go to sleep or watch television? What's worse: risking the sophomoric, or lapsing into the comfortable weekend reader who can't read syntopically because she doesn't have the time? The authors ignore people like me, except for a passing reference to the fact that being tired can make you a lazy reader, and "that's not our fault."

2. The authors devote an entire chapter to a wonderful reference called a "Syntopicon," which has all the major classic works divided by subject and page number so that you look up a subject and then see what each work has to say about it. That sounds great, but darned if I can find where a Syntopicon is, or how to get one. Were they being facetious, or is that really what it's called? It's like getting a cookbook and all the recipes in it have this weird substance that no grocery store in your area sells or has even heard of.

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Summary: The Classic Guide to Critical Thinking Skills for Everyone
Review: This classic book teaches practical steps in critical reading and thinking skills. Bacon said that some books are meant to be merely tasted while others should be swallowed whole; this is one of the latter. It teaches basic steps in analyzing the text, seeing how the parts relate to the whole and each other, how to find the structure, the main ideas, the support of those ideas, how to evaluate what is being said, and rules of procedure when agreeing or disagreeing with an author. There is a lot here that reminds one of SQ3R, the old study technique to boost reading comprehension, but this book is much more thorough. Adler and Van Doren also give keys to reading actively/critically in different fields of knowledge--it's

Rating:
Summary: Random Ratings
Review: This is a great book, and a important and influential book, in that it makes your experience with other books so much more complete.

I just wanted to comment on a few of the reviews I've read that point to the seemingly contradictory nature of the title, i.e., "How can you read a book titled 'How to read...' if you can't read, and if you can read, why do you need it?" These reviewers apparently review books without ever having cracked the covers, because if they had, they'd realize how strange their statement was.

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Summary: Can dramatically improve your ability to learn
Review: This is a great book. This book can make a big improvement in how effective you are in reading. It mostly focuses on how to master a book. It talks about various levels of reading, but mainly the book is trying to help the reader to completely understand and own a book after reading it.
A reader or listener is like a catcher in a baseball game, it takes both the effort of the pitcher (author) and the effort of the catcher (reader) to transmit an idea. In reading only in part, only part of the idea may be caught.
The goals of reading: reading for information, reading for understanding. To gain understanding you have to work on the book. Reading for understanding is aided discovery.
The authors point how that there are different levels of reading:

1) Basic reading (See Spot run)
2) Reading with a limit on time, systematic skimming.
3) Reading for maximum understanding, or unlimited time
4) Reading several books, synoptically, this is the ability to do research from several books.

So in reading a book you need to decide what it is you want out of the book. For example you may decided after skimming the book that you are not interested in reading any more. "HOW TO READ A BOOK" gives tips on making that decision, and then how to do a good job of reading at a given level.
The authors give tips on how to skim a book, to check the title page, the table of contents, look through the index, and read the publishers jacket. At some point along the way you may decide you are no longer interested in the book. Next you figure out which chapters are important to the book, read them, and read the summary arguments of the book.
Much of the book is on the third level, where you try to own or master a book, so but the time you are done with the book you have increased your understanding of a topic.
The essence of active reading, trying to answer four basic questions:
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 in part?
4) What of it? What does it mean to me?
There are several suggestions on how to mark up a book, so that when you come back to it later you can quickly remember the key points, and use it as a reference book. And marking up the book helps you to process the material at a deeper level.
This is well worth reading, and reading several times, until you own the book.