How to Read a Book (A Touchstone book)
ISBN:9780671212094 read summary

The authors followed a logical approach to assessing the content of books. By this I mean classical logic, applied for the purpose of getting the most out of whatever you read. The book was helpful to my 15 year old advanced student.

So reading this book has made me realize my weaknesses in reading and I am grateful for that. The next challenge is to find the time to form the habits taught here that will improve my reading skill. Perhaps one of the most lasting impressions I will have of this book and Mortimer Adler in general is his differentiation between reading for knowledge/information, reading for enjoyment/entertainment or the kind of reading and learning he hopes to encourage which is reading for understanding/wisdom. I was frusterated by my experience of modern education's focus on speciallizations and I feel that school did not form in me the skills needed for a continuous life of learning. Highschool and college turned something that should be about pursuing your wonder at the world around you into something that feels like work and is fixated on preparation for working the rest of your life away. I regret that I didn't recieve encouragment to study on my own 15 years ago - I would have been happier and better off if I had dropped out of highschool and taught myself through the great books. I didn't do it in highshool, but I plan on doing it now! Thank you Mr. Adler - Rest In Peace.

Thinking back on my English classes, I felt very deprived after reading this book. I have graduated highschool and just started college and have not learned the things in this book already. This book has really helped me to become a better book reader. A better reader...period. I do feel that some of the parts were boring. The start of the third section of the book put me to sleep once, but I knew I was gaining knowledge so I kept with it. The authors' writing style takes some getting used to. There isn't a sentence in the book that isn't broken up with commas and semicolons and dashes. It's still a good book, and I am happy that I read it.

This is apparently a must-have for anyone who wants to not simply speed read, but boost comprehension and understanding of what the author's message is.

This is a comprehensive how-to book on improving your reading-skills, especially skills in reading expository (non-fiction) works.

Four levels of reading are considered: 1) Elementary, 2) Inspectional, 3) Analytical, and 4) Syntopical. Most of the bulk of the book is taken by the "rules" of Analytical Reading. That level is also divided into certain "stages", and I can't help objecting to how those stages are introduced in this book.

By page 94 the book has covered the first four rules of Analytical Reading, and then you are suddenly told that those four rules belong to a so called "first stage" of Analytical Reading. The book goes on with further chapters and further rules, but you aren't told in advance how many rules or how many stages Analytical Reading will involve in total. And pages go on and on, and rules keep coming, and still you are not told. Only by page 163 (roughtly at half the book) you are finally shown the list of all rules (FIFTEEN in total) of all THREE stages of Analytical Reading, which were being covered in this sort of blind way (for the reader) since page 59. This sort of bottom-up approach, at least for me, was seriously exasperating. Why the authors didn't simply start showing such list of stages and rules to be covered, I really can't say. Maybe they thought the "mystery" would keep the interest of some readers (?). I don't know, but for me that approach was a poor choice; it was annoying and infuriating. It took me a while to read this book just because of that.

The above can give you an idea of how the method is presented in the book: with lots of embedded lists and enumerations of rules, and stages, and steps. In other words, with lots of structure. Seems organized, but presented in the chosen bottom-up approach I described might appear to be not as clear, or too detailed or overstructured at first.

In spite of that rant, the book is a great read, and the recommended method (in spite of how it is presented) is definitely worth adopting.

One of the recommended rules is to always read the book through at least once, even if not understanding some points in it. Just as in a movie. A first viewing of a movie might not let you understand everything, but you have to watch it fully that first time, without interruptions. Same with a book. And in particular, I think the same applies to this very book on how to read.

The book states that reading and listening are basically the same art -the art of being taught. I definitely agree with that.

All in all, a highly recommended read.