Margitte's Reviews > How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

I have been reading this book very slowly, on and off, the past two months, trying to have enough time to concentrate, focus, be analytical, critical and syntopical.

This pedagogical work is so comprehensive, it will take forever to summarize the content. In short, this book is a must-read for any serious reader of the GREAT BOOKS of all times.

It can be regarded as a manual for lecturers/teachers/reviewers, or anybody who needs to discuss a serious book. Book clubs comes to mind here for those of us who do not need to face a classroom and would want to apply the knowledge somewhere. You can find an interesting synopsis of the author's ideas here: GOOGLE DOCS

You will immediately recognize many familiar aspect in this reading sheet compiled from Adler's book. After finishing the book you will understand why it is imperative to become an active, skillful reader. The important aspect of reading is not to read as many books as you possibly can, but rather read each book really well and enjoy it more.

Of course, while reading it, I was making notes as usual - some were comments, others were highlights of the content. So instead of repeating the entire book here, I will briefly share my interpretation there of.

The original book was written in 1940, with recent updates made to suit modern audiences. Someone should read both versions and report the differences. That's to say, someone who has the time to do that!

The author proposes that books should be read three times for different reasons: analytically, interpretively, and critically .

I. The first reading can be called structural or analytic. Here the reader proceeds from the whole to its parts.

II. The second reading can be called interpretative or synthetic. Here the reader proceeds from the parts to the whole.

III. The third reading can be called critical or evaluative. Here the reader judges the author, and decides whether he agrees or disagrees.

I was thinking about the information-overload, the dumping of reading material onto carricula and how students struggle to keep ahead. We all know that it leads to superficial reading, not because the student does not have the mental ability to understand or analyze, but simply because modern students do not have the time to do so.

No wonder students leave books behind the day they leave the torture chambers of education! What could have been an introduction to intellectual freedom, becomes a dreaded memory of concentration camps! (pun intended). So in effect our education authorities are killing off the desire for learning. It's in the book as well, and not only my opinion!

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” - Plato

In the reading milieu, such as Goodreads, where readers gather to discuss books, time has become a lesser evil, since passion for reading replaces more or less the urgent need for gathering information - or writing dissertations, and enjoyment has become a major factor. Yes, then it will be possible to read a book three times, provided you don't have a TBR-Bucket list that is slowly driving you bonkers!

There are different types of books, according to the author:
I. Digests and repetitions of other books;
II. Original communications

The authors propose that the original communications by, for instance, Plato and Dante, be read to enable the reader to form a personal opinion of the original author's books.

Digests and Repetitions of other books, according to him, leaves too much room for subjective interpretation in which much of the original charm may get lost. However, in my opinion, most readers today are dependent on the translations to enjoy the books. In fact, if it wasn't for the translations, most of these books would never have enjoyed such a wide audience today. As discussed in the book, Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages, by Guy Deutscher, the translation in itself can alter the meaning of some words by simply interpreting the original word subjectively in a different culture. The Bible translations is a prime example of it.

Then the interpretation of the content of a book in itself can differ vastly, as can be observed in the different reviews of one book on Goodreads alone. Classroom interpretations by teachers are not much different. But let's be honest, if it wasn't for excellent teachers introducing us to Shakespeare through manuals such as Shakespeare for Dummies, or something similar, we, as modern readers, especially the non-English speaking contingent, all might still be in therapy after colliding with this particular author head-on without any rescue workers on the way! Honestly, I am still reeling and it has already been decades later!

However, the authors' arguments in the book, about reading the original communications, make sense. Perhaps different translations of the same work should be considered. It is with the original communications (Great books in particular) that the rules of reading can assist greatly. What a great thought to know that by reading the original communications from the old masters, we actually experience a direct communication with him or her! I never really thought about it this way.

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, is old news in a new jacket, as we say in Africa. Most of the principles in the original book have been implemented at universities and classrooms since 1940 and certainly made a huge difference. Although we did not always have time to follow the rules exactly, we were taught the rules, which enabled us to implement it more, later in our lives, when we had time to do so. DIY-manuals versus classroom participation is an important concept discussed in the book - an important one.

What with reading printed books being stamped with an expiry date all over it, according to the doomsayers, we could at least attempt to teach family members the joy and secrets of reading again, after a book like this.

For interest's sake: I recently had a conversation with a documentary-producer from China. He told me how futile our modern information technology have become. It doesn't matter how small or big the storage devices are, and will become, they still have a limited life span. Thus, everything stored digitally or electronically, and not being restored constantly on new devices, will be lost in time and ultimately proven useless. It's a sobering and upsetting thought.

In that sense, there's still room for printed books. They might not last as long as the Egyptian papyrus scrolls, clay tablets of Mesopotamia,the Pre-Columbian codices of the Americas, and the old books preserving master texts such as the Italian Divinia Commedia, by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed 1320, but we have a chance of keeping future generations informed by keeping the art of reading printed works alive. Perhaps there's also still a need to memorize important information as was done a few thousand years ago when oral history was the only way forward! :-)

This book enables rookies to get introduced to the real joy of real reading again. The point is, we need to read books like these again to remind us of this dying art form.

In the first place, you must be able to grasp what is being offered as knowledge. In the second place, you must judge whether what is being offered is really acceptable to you as knowledge. In the other words, there is first the task of understanding the book, and second the job of criticizing it. These two are quite separate, as you will see more and more.

The text is divided into 4 sections (over 21 chapters):
Part 1 - THE ACTIVITY OF READING - The Dimensions of Reading; read to understand, not for relaxation, gaining knowledge, amusement, or anything else.;
Part 2 - THE RULES -The Third Level of Reading: the rules for analytical reading;
Part 3 - THE REST OF THE READER'S LIFE - Approaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter;
Part 4 - The Ultimate Goals of Reading - syntopical reading.

There are excellent reviews and discussions of this book in other Goodread reviews. You might want to read a few.

If you really have time to apply all the rules to a book, resulting in taking up to one month to read one book, you might want to choose a book that is really worth the effort. The GREAT books of all times will do nicely :-)) Nonfiction will work even better.

Some hick-ups: There were copious numbers of spelling or typing errors in the book, which drove me slightly insane. A pity, really. Hopefully it was only this particular edition I have found. Quite some jumping-around on the concepts; repetitive, elaborate, tedious illustrations of the ideas; and perhaps a too formal classroom approach to the information that might scare some readers off. However, it is still a highly informative read. For a book being written in 1940 it is not too bad. I would have thought that the approach to the information should have been 'modernized' though, while it was republished. The readers of today are a totally different kettle of fish. Editing is the magic word!

I am not sure if this is the best book to read for improving reading skills, but it is certainly the father of them all and I learnt a lot from it. I will refer back to it as well - it was worth it. It took two months, remember? :-)