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How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler

How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler

by Parker · 202 things on Twos

The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
Preface
Originally published in 1940
To achieve all the purposes of reading, we need the ability to read different things at different—appropriate—speeds, not everything at the greatest possible speed.
"When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing." - Pascal
The aim is to read better, always better, but sometimes slower, sometimes faster
Part One: The Dimensions of Reading
Chapter 1: The Activity and Art of Reading
All reading must to some degree be active
Completely passive reading is impossible
The reader or the listener is like the catcher in a game of baseball, it is just as much an activity as pitching or hitting it
We read newspapers and magazines to increase our store of information, but they cannot improve our understanding, for our understanding was equal to them before we started
You read for understanding when the writer is superior to you in understanding, and his book must convey in readable form the insights he possesses and you lack
We can learn only from our "betters." We must know who they are and how to learn from them
Being informed is prerequisite to being enlightened
Although the teacher may help his student in many ways, it is the student himself who must do the learning
Chapter 2: The Levels of Reading
Reading, like unaided discovery, is learning from an absent teacher
The levels of reading are cumulative
The first level of reading is Elementary Reading: basic reading skills
The second level of reading is Inspectional Reading: complete reading within a specific amount of time
Skimming, getting the basic understanding
The third level of reading is Analytical Reading:
Thorough reading, given unlimited time, ask organized questions of what you are reading
"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." - Francis Bacon
The fourth level of reading is Syntopical reading
Read many books and place them in relation to one another and to a subject about which they all revolve
Chapter 3: The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading
A child who is not yet ready to read is frustrated if attempts are made to teach him, and he may carry over his dislike for the experience into his later school career and even into adult life
Elementary reading corresponds to pre-school and kindergarten experiences
Word mastery corresponds to the first grade experience of the typical child
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
The mature reader by the end of junior high school
Most institutions of high learning either do not know how to instruct students in reading beyond the elementary level, or lack the facilities and personnel to do so
Chapter 4: The Second Level of Reading: Inspectional Reading
Inspectional reading 1: Systematic skimming or pre-reading
Aim is to discover whether the book requires a more careful reading
Look at the title page and at its preface
Read each quickly
Not the subtitles or other indications of the scope or aim of the book or of the author's special angle on his subject
Study the table of contents
Obtain a general sense of the book's structure
A table of contents can be valuable, and you should read it carefully before going on to the rest of the book
Check the index if the book has one
Make a quick estimate of the range of topics covered and of the kinds of books and authors referred to
Read the publisher's blurb
Summarize as accurately as they can the main points in their book
Look at the chapters that seem to be pivotal to its argument
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
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
What you understand by reading the book through to the end will help you when you make the additional effort later to go back to the places you passed by on your first reading
On reading speeds
Too often, there are things we have to read that are not really worth spending a lot of time reading; if we cannot read them quickly, it will be a terrible waste of time
A good speed reading course should therefore reach you to read at many different speeds, not just one speed that is faster than anything you can manage now
Every book, no matter how difficult, contains interstitial material that can be and should be read quickly; and every good book also contains matter that is difficult and should be read very slowly
Fixations and Regressions
The mind, unlike the eye, does not need to "read" only a word or short phrase at a time. The mind can grasp a sentence of even a paragraph at a "glance"—if only the eyes will provide it with the information it needs
Place your thumb and first two fingers together. Sweep this "pointer" across a line of type, a little faster than it is comfortable for your eyes to move. Force yourself to keep up with your hand
There is no single right speed at which you should read; the ability to read at various speeds and to know when each speed is appropriate is the ideal
Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension
Do not be afraid to be superficial. Race through even the hardest book. You will then be prepared to read it well the second time
Chapter 5: How to be a demanding reader
The four basic questions a reader asks:
What is the book about as a whole?
Discover the leading theme of the book and how the author develops this theme in an orderly way by subdividing it into its essential subordinate themes or topics
What is being said in detail, and how?
Discover the main ideas, assertions, and arguments that constitute the author's particular message
Is the book true, in whole or part?
You must make up your own mind
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?
Is it important to you to know them?
"Read between the lines" to get the most out of anything
"Write between the lines" to do the most efficient kind of reading
The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks
Writing your reactions down helps you remember the thoughts of the author
Vertical lines at the margin point to a passage too long to be underlined
Any art or skill is possessed by those who have formed the habit of operating according to its rules
What you do imperfectly at first, you gradually come to do with the kind of automatic perfection that an instinctive performance has
In order to forget them as separate acts, you have to learn them first as separate acts
Part 2: The Third Level of Reading: Analytical Reading
Chapter 6: Pigeonholing a book
Rule 1: 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
An expository book is one that conveys knowledge primarily, "knowledge" being construed broadly
Any book that consists primarily of opinions, theories, hypotheses, or speculation
What kind of book is this?
If the reader cannot answer that question, and if he never asks it of himself, he is going to be unable to answer a lot of other questions about the book
Intelligent action depends on knowledge
To make knowledge practical we must convert it into rules of operation. We must pass from knowing what is the case to knowing what to do about it if we wish to get somewhere
The distinction between knowing that and knowing how
Questions about the validity of something are theoretical, whereas to raise questions about the end of anything, the purpose it serves, is practical
The traditional subdivision of theoretical books classifies them as history, science, and philosophy
The essence of history is narration
History is chronotopic. Chronos is the Greek word for time, topos the Greek word for place. History always deals with things that existed or events that occurred on a particular date and in a particular place
Science seeks laws or generalizations that can happen at any time or place
A philosophical book appeals to no facts or observations that lie outside the experience of the ordinary man
Chapter 7: X-Raying a Book
Rule 2: State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at most a few sentences
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
The best books are those that have the most intelligible structure
Rule 4: Find out what the author's problems were
Chapter 8: Coming to Terms with an Author
A term is the basic element of communicable knowledge
A term is a word used unambiguously
A term is a skilled use of words for the sake of communicating
Terms are mainly used by expository writers and in expository books
Rule 5: Find the important words and through them come to terms with the author
There is a grammatical and a logical aspect. The grammatical aspect is the one that deals with words. The logical step deals with their meanings or, more precisely, with terms. Both are indispensable for communication
Only the words the author uses in a special way are important for him, and for us as readers
Every field of knowledge has its own technical vocabulary
You will find that your comprehension of any book will be enormously increased if you only go to the trouble of finding its important words, identifying their shifting meanings, and coming to terms
Chapter 9: An Author's Message
An author's propositions are nothing but expressions of personal opinion unless they are supported by reasons
Rule 6: Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they cotain
Rule 7: Locate or construct the basic arguments in the book by finding them in the connection of sentences
If the arguments are not thus expressed, your task is to construct them, but taking a sentence from this paragraph, and one from that, until you have gathered together the sequence of sentences that state the propositions that compose the argument
Nothing helps those who will not keep awake while reading
The spotting of the important sentences is a job the reader must perform for himself
"State in your own words" is the best test we know for telling whether you have understood the proposition or propositions in the sentence
If you cannot communicate in totally different words then only words have passed from them to you, not thought or knowledge
Can you point to some experience you have had that the proposition describes or to which the proposition is in any way relevant?
The vice of "verbalism" can be defined as the bad habit of using words without regard for the thoughts they should convey and without awareness of the experiences to which they should refer
If the book contains arguments, you must know what they are, and be able to put them into a nutshell
Rule 8: Find out what the author's solutions are
Chapter 10: Criticizing a Book Fairly
If, however, the reader is undisciplined and impolite, it may be anything but orderly.
Ordinary conversations between persons who confront each other are good only when they are carried on civilly.
"Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider."
There is no book so good that no fault can be found with it.
No one is really teachable who does not freely exercise his power of independent judgment
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," of I suspend judgement"
Ask them to state your position for you, the position they claim to be challenging. If they cannot do it satisfactorily, if they cannot repeat what you have said in their own words, you know that they do not understand, and you are entirely justified in ignoring their criticisms.
Rule 10: when you disagree, do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or contentiously
You only win by gaining knowledge, not by knocking the other fellow down
Rule 11: Respect the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion, by giving reasons for any critical judgment you make
Chapter 11: Agreeing or Disagreeing with an Author
Since men are animals as well as rational, it is necessary to acknowledge the emotions you bring to a dispute, or those that arise in the course of it. Otherwise you are likely to be giving vent to feelings, not stating reasons
"I understand but I disagree," he can make the following remarks to the author:
"You are uninformed"
To support the remark, you must be able yourself to state the knowledge that the author lacks and show how it is relevant, how it makes a difference to his conclusions.
Lack of relevant knowledge makes it impossible to solve certain problems or support certain conclusions.
"You are misinformed'
'You are illogical-your reasoning is not cogent"
"Your analysis is incomplete."
Books win the plaudits of the critics and gain widespread popular attention almost to the extent that they flout the truth--the more outrageously they do so, the better.
Many readers, and most particularly those who review current publications, employ other standards for judging, and praising or condemning, the books they read-their novelty, their sensationalism, their seductiveness, their force, and even their power to bemuse or befuddle the mind, but not their truth, their clarity, or their power to enlighten.
A person who has read widely but not well deserves to be pitied rather than praised.
In the natural course of events, a good student frequently becomes a teacher, and so, too, a good reader becomes an author.
Chapter 12: Aids to Reading
Common is not the same as universal.
Common experience is most relevant to the reading of fiction, on the one hand, and to the reading of philosophy, on the other
Time is of the essence here and should not be disregarded. The books can be read from the present into the past or from the past into the present. Though the order from past to present has certain advantages through being more natural, the fact of chronology can be observed in either way.
Handbooks and manuals purport to tell the student everything he has to know about a book that has been assigned by one of his teachers, but they are sometimes woefully wrong in their interpretations, and besides, as a practical matter, they irritate some teachers and professors.
Part Three: Approaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter
Chapter 13: How to Read Practical Books
Nothing short of doing solves the problem
Chapter 14: How to Read Imaginative Literature
Experiencing our inner life, our own unique vision of the world makes us happy and the experience is deeply satisfying to some part of ourselves we do not ordinarily touch
You have not grasped the whole story until you can summarize its plot in a brief narration—not a proposition or an argument
Don't criticize imaginative writing until you fully appreciate what the author has tried to make you experience
The beauty of any work of art is related to the pleasure it gives us when we know it well
Your first judgment will naturally be one of taste, which are more likely to be about you—your preferences and prejudices—than about the book. Hence, to complete the task of criticism, you must objectify your reactions by pointing to those things in the book that caused them
Chapter 15: Suggestions for reading stories, plays, and poems
Read stories quickly and with total immersion
Plays are meant to be watched, not read
The simplest definition of poetry (in the somewhat limited sense implied by the title of this section) is that it is what poets write.
The first rule to follow in reading a lyric is to read it through without stopping, whether you think you understand ti or not.
The second rule for reading lyrics is this: Read the poem through again-but read it out loud.
Chapter 16: How to read history
History is closer to fiction than science
Because theories of history differ, and because a historian's theory affects his account of events. it is necessary to read more than one account of the history of an event or period if we want to understand it.
Read a history not only to learn what really happened at a particular time and place in the past, but also to learn the way men act in all times and places, especially now.
Definitive biographies cannot be written about living persons
Series of question to ask about current events:
What does the author want to prove?
Whom does he want to convince?
What special knowledge does he assume?
What special language does he use?
Does he really know what he si talking about?
Chapter 17: How To Read Science and Mathematics
"Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." - George Bernard Shaw
Chapter 18: How To Read Philosophy
Philosophy, according to Aristotle, begins with wonder
"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." - Montaigne
Happiness, as Aristotle says, is the quality of a while life, and he means "whole" not only in a temporal sense but also in terms of all the aspects from which a life can be viewed. The happy man is one, as we might say nowadays, who puts it all together—and keeps it there throughout his life
The discovery you come to on your own will be much more valuable than someone else's ideas
"Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Consider any institution-a church, a political party, a society-that among other things (1) is a teaching institution, (2) has a body of doctrine to teach, and (3) has a faithful and obedient membership. The members of any such organization read reverentially. They do not-even cannot-question the authorized or right reading of the books that to them are canonical. The faithful are debarred by their faith from finding error ni the "sacred" text, ot say nothing of finding nonsense there.
Chapter 19: How to read social science
You cannot understand a book if you refuse to hear what it is saying
Part 4: The Ultimate Goals of Reading
Chapter 20: The fourth level of reading: syntopical reading
The syntopical reader tries to look at all sides and to take no sides
Chapter 21: Reading and the growth of the mind
You will not improve as a reader if all you read are books that are well within your capacity. You must tackle books that are beyond you, or books that are over your head
Unless you stretch, you will not learn
There is no limit to the amount of growth and development that the mind can sustain