In July 2023, I was able to read an awesome book
“How To Read A Book” by Adler & Doren, published in 1972 (read the Touchman edition 2014).
Should you read it?
- If you’re someone who is struggling to build a reading habit or doesn’t know when to read a full book (line by line) or skim through it.
- If you don’t know how to read different types of books/materials not limited to Psychological/Fiction/Non-Fiction/Magazines/Articles/Historical/Sociological/Political/Stories/Novels, then definitely this book covers all those points in detail.
⬇ Remember
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
Key Points
Foremost, the author in the beginning gives a little bit of motivation by saying:
We do not have to know everything about something in order to understand it.
This resembles a famous concept in Computer Science known as abstraction, usually taught during OOPs (Object-Oriented Programming) classes.
| Abstraction: Hiding internal details of a system |
Example: When you drive a car, most of the time you don’t know about the internal dynamics of the car (such as how gears work, torque, friction, etc.). Similarly, when you’re trying to learn something new, don’t worry about the consequences. Just remember:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Moving forward, the author tries to put more emphasis on quality vs quantity, i.e.,
- It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve read.
- But in real life, it matters how many principles from the books one is able to incorporate into real life.
Also, there lies a major difference between:
| Purpose | Objective |
|---|---|
| Reading for information | Skimming through |
| Reading for understanding | Learning more -> Reasoning |
| Reading for fun/entertainment | Individual’s choice |
Reading is a sort of passive form of teaching, whereas listening is a sort of active teaching. But reading requires more effort and consciousness than listening in general.
There are four different levels of reading:
- Elementary reading (where we understand the basics of language, i.e., school sessions).
- Inspectional reading (Pre-reading, i.e., what is the book about, author’s intention, skimming through the index).
- Analytical reading (Full reading/complete reading).
- Syntopical reading (A more advanced form that requires extensive expository as well as comparative study).
In general, the author emphasizes the fact that:
One must know what kind of book you’re reading.
What you can learn from the title of a book.
👉 ❗️ Do not begin to talk about anything in general until you have listened carefully and are sure you understand.
To agree without understanding is inane.
To disagree without understanding is impudent.
Most of the time, we’ve encountered a situation where:
“I don’t know what you mean, but I think you’re wrong.”
Great authors were great teachers/readers.
In short, the author wants us to understand the fact that before actually reading the book, try to make the following points:
- Try to find the type of book (e.g., non-fiction -> self-help -> habit tracking).
- Try to find the purpose of the book (e.g., a practical book to learn some principles or a novel).
- Run through the index and initial few pages of the book to understand the author’s intention.
- Complete the task of understanding.
- Try to reason with the author’s points (not too aggressively), i.e., when you disagree, do so reasonably.
- Find out the distinction between knowledge and opinions.
- View disagreement as a matter of knowledge.
- Find the author’s intention (uninformed, misinformed, illogical, analysis is complete).
- Check whether the book demands intrinsic (no outside material required) or extrinsic reading.
As a matter of fact, initially, one should focus on intrinsic reading (which helps better to reason with the author’s thoughts).
Tl;dr
- You must ask questions when you read.
- What are the author’s objectives?
- What are the author’s intentions?
Problem:
Most of the time, people read the whole book and then find it difficult to provide a clear/short description of the pros/cons of the book.
| Books Type | Purpose/How to read |
|---|---|
| Expository Books | Knowledge (research papers) |
| Imaginative books | Communicate an experience |
| Stories | Read it quickly and with total immersion |
| Historical | Read more than one book to learn about the history of a particular event |
| Science | What is it about? Purpose of the author? |
| Philosophy | Questions it tries to answer |
| Modern journalism | Question who/what/why/when/where-related things |
Conclusion
Most of us waste time on books that deserve less attention.
In general, look at all sides of the book and take no sides, at least during the initial phases of reading.
Activity (reasoning) is the essence of good reading!!!
A good book can teach you about the world and about yourself.
I’ve tried to cover minimal points about the book, but definitely, if you’re an avid reader and struggling to find out how to read a book well, do give it a try. It will be worth your precious time.
Time is money @@@,
🍻 Cheers,
B@kul Gupt@