How to Read a Book: the classic guide to intelligent reading

by Mortimer J. Adler

George Bernard Shaw’s: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”

A mind not agitated by good questions cannot appreciate the significance of even the best answers.

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, as we have said, books that are over your head. Only books of that sort will make you stretch your mind. And unless you stretch, you will not learn.

Reading for information does not stretch your mind any more than reading for amusement. It may seem as though it does, but that is merely because your mind is fuller of facts than it was before you read the book. However, your mind is essentially in the same condition that it was before. There has been a quantitative change, but no improvement in your skill.

But there is no limit to the amount of growth and development that the mind can sustain.

Reading well, which means reading actively, is thus not only a good in itself, nor is it merely a means to advancement in our work or career. It also serves to keep our minds alive and growing.