How to Read a Book

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Summary: A Must-Read Book
Review: This is one of my favorite books. Adler and Van Doren give practical, sensible advice about how to get the most from what you read. This book is indispensible to students (high school and college). It is also great for those of us who are older and want to get the essence of the books we read. You should own this book.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Literature
Review: As a highschool student heading for college I found this book very helpful and a must for anyone who wishes to read well.

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Summary: And yet another 5 star review
Review: That book is right here on my shelf beside my desk, and there is a reason for it. Who ever is interested in speedreading or rapid reading shouldn't bother buying it, neither is this a book that could be read fast nor does it teach how to do so. A statement from Francis Bacon, found in this book reads as follows: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested." So if you found a book which is worth to be digested, using speedreading or normal reading skills, "How to Read a Book" is the book to refer to, to get the most out of the few books which are actually worthwhile reading. A must for everyone who claims himself literate.

Rating:
Summary: Required Reading
Review: The first question this book asks is, "why are you reading?" As a teacher of reading, I get all sorts of answers to this question, usually "cuz I hafta". This book teaches one to narrow the answer a bit and then focuses on teaching one to read to a purpose. The reading list is okay for someone who has the time, but the most important thing is to get through the stuff we read "cuz we hafta". This book is indispensable to such readers.

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Summary: You'll never read a book the same way again
Review: I purchased this book many years ago. My wife thought I was crazy to buy a "How to" book on reading. This book truly changed the way I read (and think). I can no longer sit down with a serious book without having a pen in hand to write down comments and questions as I go.

This book should be mandatory reading for all high school students and for all education professionals.

Rating:
Summary: Simply execellent
Review: Everything you've heard about this book is true. A needed text in this age of information onslaught. Remarkable. You'll refer to it again and again for a tune-up.

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Summary: A MODERN CLASSIC
Review: HOW MANY OTHER "HOW-TO" BOOKS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1940 STILL PERTAIN TODAY? THIS BOOKS OFFERS PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON GETTING THE MOST OUT OF A BOOK, BY READING MORE ACTIVELY AND ATTENTIVELY THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE. THE BOOK DOES NOT SUFFER FROM THE MOST COMMON COMPLAINT OF OTHER PRACTICAL BOOKS; YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TO SET THE BOOK DOWN IN ORDER TO PUT YOUR NEW SKILLS AS A READER INTO PRACTICE. THE 13 PAGE RECOMMENDED READING LIST ALONE IS WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: Great gift for a high-school or college student
Review: After I read How to Read a Book, I wanted to re-read every important book I've ever read. It is a $40,000 liberal education in a $8.95 book.

How to Read A Book is an elegant guide to the lost arts of Active Reading, Conversation, and Intellectual Etiquette. Learn how to fairly and methodically assess an author's intentions and how the author fulfills (or doesn't) what they set out to do with the book. Learn how to interact with the book and make it your own...absorb its contents completely. Learn how to analyze and argue. Learn how to talk about disagreements.

This is one of those books you want to re-read every once in a while. It's a great gift for a high-school or college bound student. It should be required reading Freshman year.

Rating:
Summary: An essential for the person who may require rehabilitation.
Review: I have had the great fortune to be able to read this master work again in its 1972 reprint. I am undergoing rehabilitation because of brainstem dysregulation. I used to read anywhere from 500-1500 pages a week, mostly technical. At this point in time, I can't do "consume" that many pages, but what I do consume is better understood and retained. There is another disabled catagory that despirately needs to use this book despite its age. That is the semi-literate created by many schools and are lucky to have a grade school level reading ability (understanding and comprehension). This work of Adler's not only helps you with proper reading and evaluation skills, but contains many pearls of wisdom applicable to all and many professions. It is not a book to avoid!

Rating:
Summary: My conversion from being widely-read to well-read
Review: I am an engineer by training, and since I have been out of grad school for a few years now, I enjoy reading books in order to occupy my mind. However, I was what Adler and Van Doren would call a "widely-read" person, which is to say that I should have been pitied rather than respected. This book really changed my perception of reading from being a casual hobby to a lifelong process of self-education, and so I am currently undergoing my conversion to being a well-read reader, or a person who reads for understanding not just information.

Others might scoff at my literary ignorance, but I was really impressed by Adler and Van Doren's suggestion that the Great Books should be read chronologically, in order to take part in this "Great Conversation" that has been going on since man learned how to write. Previously, I had regarded the Great Books as so many individual stars in a literary universe, with absolutely no rhyme or reason on where to begin reading. However, now, I am approaching these classics in a more disciplined way by following a chronological reading list, and this has added a dimension of understanding to my reading that I really had not encountered before.

Adler and Van Doren say a lot in this book that I agree with, and previous reviewers have done a good job of summarizing the levels of reading, and the activities associated with them. However, I felt that the authors' suggestions for reading fiction were a bit vague and insufficient. For example, Adler and Van Doren say that the "truth" of a work of fiction is determined by its beauty to the reader, and the reader should be able to point out in the book the source of this beauty. Such a suggestion leaves a lot of things left unsaid and I felt that the authors could have commented a little more on how the reader could go about analyzing imaginative literature.

Nevertheless, this book is a classic. If you consider yourself a serious reader, but have never been formally instructed in how to engage books, then I highly, wholeheartedly, and absolutely recommend that you read this book.