A Serious Book

I finished How To Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren this past weekend. You may smile at the title, but don't be deceived; this is not a simple book, nor an easy read. It's one of the most challenging books I've read—not because it's dry (most of the time it was quite engaging), but because there is so much to learn from it.

How To Read A Book talks about being an active and demanding reader—getting the most out of what you read. It deals mostly with the reading of expository works (non-fiction), though there are pointers on reading "imaginative literature". Reading is "learning from an absent teacher" and the goal of the authors is to teach readers to make books teach them well. According to the authors, learning from a book is accomplished by asking questions of the book. Here are the basic four questions to be asked of any book:

1. What is the book about as a whole?
2. What is being said in detail, and how?
3. Is the book true, in whole or in part?
4. What of it?

The book is separated into four sections and deals with four different types of reading: elementary, inspectional, analytical, and syntopical. Elementary reading is just that—what you learn in school. Inspectional reading is especially valuable; it involves giving a book a quick once-over to learn what it is about and if it would be worth more of your time. The authors spend most of their time discussing analytical reading, the art of "chewing and digesting" a book—getting as much as possible out of it. Syntopical reading deals with reading more than one book on a given subject, comparing and contrasting the views of the authors.

If you are a serious reader or would like to be a serious reader, you need to read this book. No, it's not easy, and you won't agree with all of it, but it will open your eyes to how much more you could be getting out of the books you do read. It's a great book to have on hand—even though I typed nearly twelve pages of notes as I read, writing down what seemed most vital, I want my own copy to reference as necessary.

I shall be posting quotes from the book soon. :)