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How to Read a Book
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How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles van Doren (Kwesi 章英狮, Maldita & Dante), Start: November 25, Friday
Since this is non-fiction, I don't have any idea how to discuss the book since we are dealing with facts. Haha. But I will be happy if I can use Tagalog and English to explain things. Conyo kasi eh, haha.
Ah nabasa ko na ibang chapters nito sa ebook reader ko. Quite interesting. =)
You wanna join Maldita?
Sure! This will be my first buddy reading and book discussion/activity.
Hi Maldita,I have an ebook copy, I can email it to you. Just PM me. :)
Hi Dante,Thank you for the offer. Meron na ako sa e-reader ko. I think naka bookmark pa rin yun so madali na rin sa akin basahin. Thank you. =)
Good luck guys, I can't wait to start reading the book. Buti pa kayo nabasa niyo na. Scanning.
Hahaha Kwesi medyo mahirap basahin kasi non-fiction. Parang "Welcome back to the Classroom!"
Haha. I see, pero di ba tayo mahihirapang mag-discuss niyan? Kasi we base our own answers from facts.
Hmm I dont think so. We can use the book to reflect as to what kind or quality of a reader we are. =)Definitely, we'll learn from reading this book.
Haha. Natatakot talaga ako nung sinabi mong reflect as to what kind of a reader we are. Ano kaya ako dun? Haha.
Hahahah! Dont be. Parang magiging maganda discussion natin nito.
Haha. So parang husgahan kung sino sino tayo. Dapat may sample muna bago natin husgahan ang bawat isa.
Kwesi 章英狮 wrote: "Good luck guys, I can't wait to start reading the book. Buti pa kayo nabasa niyo na. Scanning."Good luck to us! Haha. This will be my second reading, pero from the looks of it, challenging pa rin siya basahin. Excuse my Tagalog pala, Cebuano kasi ako hehehe...
Maldita wrote: "Hahaha Kwesi medyo mahirap basahin kasi non-fiction. Parang "Welcome back to the Classroom!""Parang assignment ba? Hehehe
Kwesi 章英狮 wrote: "Haha. I see, pero di ba tayo mahihirapang mag-discuss niyan? Kasi we base our own answers from facts."Siguro it will be a bit challenging. Is this your first time to discuss a non-fiction book here in GR?
I plan to just give a summary of each chapter and give my thoughts.
@Kwesi: You might find this book useful because part 3 talks about the approaches to different kinds of literature. It has suggestions on how to approach non-fiction books. :)
Kwesi 章英狮 wrote: "Haha. So parang husgahan kung sino sino tayo. Dapat may sample muna bago natin husgahan ang bawat isa."Hehehe.
@Dante: Yap! This is my first time to discuss non-fiction and now I don't know how to start with it. Basta, I have to do is to go with the flow. Ikaw naman ang moderator nito so I'm happy to reply anytime. Haha. Mas masaya sana kung meron sa atin ang di umo-oo sa libro para may aawayin. Joke lang. Haha.My father can speak Cebuano and I don't know how. I can only speak in Ilonggo and I can understand Bisaya or whatever term they wanted to use and few Kiray-a. I'm not really from Visayas but my parents were once part of the place. Anyway, okay lang yan di ako picky sa Tagalog. Haha.
Huh? Ako ang moderator? Wala man tayo moderator hehehe :)Basically, this is a practical book. The authors' aim is to teach people how to read intelligently (that is, how to read for understanding or enlightenment, as opposed to merely reading for information or entertainment). The authors suggest that in order to attain this goal, we must observe certain rules of reading. They discuss those rules in detail in the book. :)
Is your father Bisaya? My mom is from Negros and my dad is from Leyte, but I grew up here in Cebu, so I speak Bisaya but I can also understand Ilonggo.
@Dante: Haha. Sige wala ng moderator para mas masaya at walang habulan. I see, sana magkitanay kita dira sa Cebu sa sunod ba! Haha.
Haha maayo man diay ka magbinisaya bai Kwesi =) Dili na ka ma-ilad dinhi hehehe... Sige bisita unya mu dire puhon hehehe.
Hello Kwesi and Maldita,How is your reading so far? :)
Will post my thoughts tonight.
OT: Every time I see my profile pic, I can imagine Dr. House speaking my words haha.
Sorry. Wala pa akong nabasa hahah!! Naging busy today. I'll try to read later.
Done with the first chapter. But first, my overview of the book:Overview
Basically, How to Read a Book is a practical book. It aims to help people become intelligent readers. To read intelligently means to read actively. To read actively means to read skillfully. This means that reading is actually a skill (in the same way that writing is a skill). It is an activity. Therefore, it is never passive. And, to read skillfully means to read not for information and amusement but for increased understanding. The authors propose that, in order to achieve this aim (intelligent, active, skillful reading), readers must observe certain rules. These rules will be discussed throughout the book.
The book has 4 parts and 21 chapters. Part 1 (The Dimensions of Reading) will talk about the nature and levels of reading. Part 2 (The Third Level of Reading: Analytical Reading) will talk about what analytical reading is, how to go about reading a book analytically, and the general questions you must ask or the general rules you must observe when reading a book analytically. Part 3 (Approaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter) will talk about, well, the different approaches to different kinds of literature: expository books, imaginative literature, etc. Part 4 (The Ultimate Goals of Reading) will talk about the fourth and highest level of reading -- syntopical reading.
Part One: The Dimensions of Reading
Chapter One: The Activity and Art of Reading
Adler and Van Doren says that reading is an activity. Therefore, reading is active, not passive. He gives an analogy -- baseball. Reading is like "catching" the ball in baseball. It is an active thing. And because it is active, it requires skill. This book aims to help readers develop that very skill.
Adler says that there are different goals of reading -- information, amusement/ entertainment, and understanding. This book is mainly concerned with the latter goal. So, the goal of this book is to help readers learn how to read for increased understanding. That means to read in order to move from understanding less to understanding more. That also means reading in order to become wise or enlightened.
The authors also differentiate between reading for information and amusement, and reading for increased understanding and enlightenment. On the one hand, you are reading for information when, after reading the book, you are only able to state the facts in the book. On the other hand, you are reading for increased understanding and enlightenment when, after finishing the book, you can state the things in the book *and at the same time* explain what they mean.
Adler and Van Doren says that books are like absent teachers. Books can teach us something (they can help us increase our understanding about the world) although their authors may no longer be physically present. That's great news, because that means that we have access to the greatest minds in the history of civilization!
Adler and Van Doren says that the goal of this book is to help readers learn the skills they need in order to become well-read, as opposed to being merely widely-read.
Thoughts:
I love Adler's baseball analogy of reading:
Pitcher/ hitter = Writer/ author
Catcher = Reader
Ball = The ideas or information contained in the book
I also like to be reminded that reading (at least, reading for increased understanding, which is the main goal of this book) is never passive. Reading is active -- it is an activity. That is, it involves the performance of certain mental acts. And you shouldn't take it for granted. When you read a book, you must allow it to influence or affect you.
However, I'm not sure if I agree with the authors when they say that our goal, if we wish to become intelligent and skillful readers, is to read difficult books so that our understanding about things will increase. I mean, can we not read books that are entertaining (and therefore easy to read) but can also increase our understanding about life and the world?
I love the idea about books being "absent teachers"! That's an awesome thought, isn't it? That means that, as readers, we still have access to the greatest minds in human history! We can still "approach" them and allow them to teach us, even if they are no longer with us physically. We can "go to" Plato or Aristotle or Aquinas and "sit at their feet" while they give their "lecture" about their philosophy.
Lastly, I love Adler's distinction between being well-read and being widely-read. I agree with him that our goal should be to become well read and not merely widely-read.
Done reading the first 2 chapters of the book and I'll try to continue reading later tonight. The book is quite interesting and a little bit tricky to understand. I have some problem regarding the explanation of the author. He keeps on giving examples or events that well describe the point of his message but it also keeps my head from interchanging. Fortunately, Chapter 2's first few paragraphs explained coarsely.Chapter 1: In this chapter the author gave short introduction of reading and the purpose or the thing that we have to consider after and while reading the book. According to him, the book will help us read novels and any types of books with understanding. According to him we can get three main goals (self satisfaction) of reading novels; information, understanding and entertainment—they cannot be interchangeable to each other.
He also argues with the fact that reading and writing is not a passive but an active. Dante above, explained it well with the use of the Adler's baseball analogy. But I don't understand the whole point of his idea while reading it. Thanks to Dante, anyway.
The author includes the difference between an absent teacher and present teacher which characterized by the aided and unaided discovery. In the other hand, the author supports unaided discovery. Why unaided discovery? For instance a man only read books and digs into it. If the man asked a question regarding what he was reading, there is no teacher present to answer the question but to think of that the man itself should find the whole point of his answer and that includes logic. Anyway, the authors' ideas are very interesting if we have to dig it deeper.
Chapter 2: In this chapter, the authors introduce the 4 levels of reading. Okay, I like how he differentiate from kind to level. Anyway, the four main levels of reading are Elementary Reading, Inspectional Reading, Analytical Reading and lastly, Syntopical Reading.
1. Elementary Reading is the first level and once a man passes elementary reading he/she can now be passes from nonliterary to beginning literacy as it develops the first cognitive domain, which is knowledge.
2. Inspectional Reading is the second level of reading and it emphasis on time. For example, a teacher asked a student to read a book for 15 minutes. So the student must commit his goal within 15 minutes does include the skimming, but the sstudent must understand. Again, the word skimming must be altered into skimming systematically (we only judge the book by its surface).
3. Analytical Reading is the third level of reading. This is the opposite of Inspectional Reading, this once called the complete reading. The reader must read the book completely without a limit or they are given unlimited time. This level of reading is for the sake of understanding.
4. Syntopical Reading is the last and fourth level of reading. You have to read 2 or more books to compare each them and give a conclusion that never stated before. This is the most effortful kind of reading. According to the book, this is the most rewarding and I don't get the whole point. Well, the author said that this level of reading will be elaborate in chapter 4.
@Dante: However, I'm not sure if I agree with the authors when they say that our goal, if we wish to become intelligent and skillful readers, is to read difficult books so that our understanding about things will increase. I mean, can we not read books that are entertaining (and therefore easy to read) but can also increase our understanding about life and the world?
This question is a little bit tricky, if we call about entertainment this only discuss the person's interest or kung ano pa ang tawag ng author dun. That means, it depends on the reader. There are readers who can find entertainment in difficult books which I met few here or entertainment is depends on the subjective part of the reader. Another thing, the author describe understanding with 2 conditions; there is initial inequality in understanding and second, the reader must be able to overcome this inequality in some degree.
So how can we overcome it? By asking question and that enters the other subparts of chapter one. The absent teacher and the unaided discovery. If its easy, then we only get information. Ito lang yung di ko gets, bakit kung easy information lang ang nakukuha natin? Sorry, I'm not really good with explaining things. Haha.
Congrats to us for making it to chapter 2! Hehehe"Dante above, explained it well with the use of the Adler's baseball analogy. But I don't understand the whole point of his idea while reading it. Thanks to Dante, anyway."
I think his point is simply that we need to be skilled at reading in order to "catch" what the author is saying. So, reading is really active and not passive, because it requires the skill of properly "catching" the information that the author is trying to impart to us.
"The author includes the difference between an absent teacher and present teacher which characterized by the aided and unaided discovery. In the other hand, the author supports unaided discovery. Why unaided discovery? For instance a man only read books and digs into it. If the man asked a question regarding what he was reading, there is no teacher present to answer the question but to think of that the man itself should find the whole point of his answer and that includes logic. Anyway, the authors' ideas are very interesting if we have to dig it deeper."
I love this idea about absent and present teachers, too. This means that a wealth of wisdom and knowledge is available to us today. The great minds in the history of civilization may no longer be with us physically (majority of them, anyway), but their teachings are still with us and we can access them if we only have the patience and the skill to learn what they said.
"So how can we overcome it? By asking question and that enters the other subparts of chapter one. The absent teacher and the unaided discovery. If its easy, then we only get information. Ito lang yung di ko gets, bakit kung easy information lang ang nakukuha natin? Sorry, I'm not really good with explaining things. Haha. "
Yeah, I think that's essentially the message of this book -- to become intelligent readers, we must form the habit of asking questions when we're reading. These questions are discussed in detail later in the book. :)
Chapter two: The Levels of ReadingAdler and Vam Doren talks about the different levels of reading:
1. Elementary reading
2. Inspectional reading
3. Analytical reading
4. Syntopical reading
Elementary reading asks the question, "What is the sentence saying, and what do the words mean?" Inspectional reading asks, "What is the book about as a whole? What is its structure? What are its parts?" Analytical reading asks, "What is the author saying? What does he mean? What are his arguments? Are they true?" And syntopical reading asks, "Given all these books/ literature about this particular topic or issue, what analysis or conclusion can I make?"
These levels are cumulative, so a reader cannot master the highest level of reading (syntopical reading) without first mastering elementary, inspectional, and analytical reading.
Thoughts:
I like how the authors break down the skill of reading into levels.
Our ultimate goal should be syntopical reading.
Speculating, I think I'm still in 3rd level and hoping to develop more my reading skill. Haha. Wala lang, nangangarap lang nang gising. Haha. I'll try to post chapter 3 and 4 later, I'm currently writing my poem for tomorrow's homework.
What's your course, Kwesi? :)Me too, I think nasa 3rd level pa ako. Hehe
Veterinary medicine and currently taking some non-curricular subjects for my future plans. Haha. The assignment, well, my professor in Social Dimension of Teaching forced us to make one even though I was the one who gave it to them for homework.
Wow, vet medicine, cool! You must be an animal lover. :) We have four dogs at home, and one in our parents' house. They're a mixture of Poodle and Terrier.I'm actually thinking of pursuing medicine. I'm already a nurse, but I have this desire of becoming a doctor, too. Hehe
God, I'm not an animal lover or never did cruel things to animal. My mother wanted this so I just pursue it without even putting my own satisfaction. Anyway, I don't like to talk about it. Next time na lang if we can meet each other here or sa Cebu.If you want to become a doctor, why no pursue your study. Ask Dra. Ranee, she's one of the active members here and you might want to talk or ask anything about medicine before pursuing it.
"God, I'm not an animal lover or never did cruel things to animal. My mother wanted this so I just pursue it without even putting my own satisfaction. Anyway, I don't like to talk about it. Next time na lang if we can meet each other here or sa Cebu."Hehehe okay.
"If you want to become a doctor, why no pursue your study. Ask Dra. Ranee, she's one of the active members here and you might want to talk or ask anything about medicine before pursuing it."
Yeah, medicine is really tough, that's why I'm considering my plan very, very carefully. Plus, I'm already 30 lol... So there's that factor, too. :D
Age doesn't matter. ;)
Thanks hehe... Yup, my age doesn't discourage me :)
Done reading Chapters 3 and 4, I'll try to write my insights later. Okay again, I find his writing confusing because of too many comparisons and examples given in the book. IN the other hand, I'm loving it. Haha.
You're a fast reader! I read this slowly because I couldn't understand him easily. It's great that you're loving it hehehe...
Chapter three: The First Level of Reading: Elementary ReadingBasically, Adler and Van Doren says that elementary reading has four stages: reading readiness, word mastery or the ability to understand basic words, rapid growth of vocabulary, and the further refinement of these skills.
A child has to go through each of the above stages in order to master this reading level. This does not happen quickly. In fact, it takes years. It starts during nursery or thereabouts, when the child becomes ready physically and intellectually to read. Then the child goes through his elementary years and learns to read basic books. During these years, the child's vocabulary grows and he begins to develop his understanding of context. Then, during his high school years, he further develops and refines his reading skills.
Ideally, by the time the child reaches high school, he should be able to read books analytically.
Thoughts:
I can honestly say that I haven't yet really mastered this basic reading level. My vocabulary is really not that wide or deep, and sometimes I find it hard to understand the context of a given sentence, especially if the book I'm reading is advanced or tertiary-level.
Chapter 3: The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading This is the first level of reading, the Elementary reading. So the book discuss clearly the 3 historical background of elementary reading. First to educate all Americans, second self-learn and lastly the sight reading. I'm not sure with the last one since there is vagueness in explaining after the second history. But life is a cycle so everything goes back to phonemic.
So the purpose of Elementary reading is to prepare a child to read. So it includes pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary and so on. Without attaining the Elementary Reading the child might had a problem in reading, I mean for sure there is. This is the most important in reading, for me. Without knowing the basic cannot attain the main goal.
The four skills or level that should acquire in Elementary Reading, the Reading readiness, physical readiness, intellectual readiness and lastly the language readiness. The first one, the reading readiness, talks bout the preparation in reading. Second, it involves hearing and vision. Third, involves minimum level of perception and lastly, the language readiness, is the ability to speak and correctly connect sentences.
@Dante: I can honestly say that I haven't yet really mastered this basic reading level. My vocabulary is really not that wide or deep, and sometimes I find it hard to understand the context of a given sentence, especially if the book I'm reading is advanced or tertiary-level.
Wow ha! Haha. I'm sure nobody can master anything even you have to put your whole life into it. I think the author speaks of mastering is at least manage to accomplish the standard given task. For example an elementary student must attain this number of words and vocab and so and so. I mean there is a level that we only going to attain, plus one of the hindrance in learning English is that our mother tongue is Filipino not English diba. Second, language is a continues process, walang tigil sa pagbabago. Because of this book I was forced to read a dictionary, 5 pages a day. I mean the pocket size naman. Haha.
One problem with us is that we don't have a good background when we were in Elementary. I mean, do our teachers really knew what they are teaching that time? I'm happy that I attend a better school with phonemic standard subjects but how about those who were in public school, not all of them naman. One of the biggest problem is the phonetics, one of my professor pronounce face as fez, I mean it.
Chapter 4: The Second Level of Reading: Inspectional Reading
I'm loving this chapter, I mean, I need to master systematic skimming. Especially when your teacher keeps on giving bad lectures and you don't have a choice but to read the reference. Eeek! Have you ever met this kind of professor? Every time I saw them, I'm wishing that I will be the one who's going to report their topic. Yabang eh, no! Haha.
Here we go, below is the step-by-step process on how to systematically skim a book according to the book. It was effective! I don'y like to elaborate it more clearly, the steps are self explanatory.
1. Look at the title page and, if the book has one, at it's preface.
2. Study the Table of Contents to obtain a general sense of the book's structure.
3.Check the index if the book has one-most expository works do.
4. Read the publisher's blurb! (Sometimes, I hate reading blurb because they usually full of lies! Haha.)
5. Look now at the chapters that seem pivotal to its argument. (Oh, this will discuss in the next chapter!)
6. Turn the pages, Dipping in here and there, reading a paragraph or two, something several pages in sequence, never more than that.
I don't know what is the problem of superficial reading, I mean, why is it superficial reading is a very sensitive case? I don't get his point. For me it was a good way to read book with concentration. Wait, I have to quote some parts. "In tackling a difficult book for the first time, read it through withough ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away." I agree! More explanation read 36.
I also agree with the use of your finger or any pointer the fixate the eye. It increases speed and concentration. I already read a book tackling this strategy of speed reading which really helps me to read when I was in high school. :) Next stop, chapters 4 and 5.
@Dante: You're a fast reader! I read this slowly because I couldn't understand him easily. It's great that you're loving it hehehe...
Do I? Haha. I think this book might help us read more faster. Just follow the rules! O talking about rules, do you really believe that we master the skill of reading if we must first follow the rules (Chapter 5 and 6)? Haha. In comparison, reading is an art. Niyahaha!
Chapter 5: How To Be a Demanding ReaderYeah, I know, I must be a demanding reader. Haha. I mean most of us here in Goodreads. This will discuss how to encourage, haha, I mean to make a person a reader. Some people read because they only want to sleep and that's not me. I read because I want information, entertainment and understanding. Choy! It was true that reading is a very hard acquired art, like me, when I first read books I always fall asleep and nobody guides me. I just go with the flow.
To become an active and effective reader, one must ask the following questions. They also act as guides for reader to understand the book as whole and why the author wrote it.
1. What is the Book About as a whole? (One must discover the theme of the book.)
2. What is being said in detail, and how? (must discover the main ideas, assertions, and arguments)
3. Is the book true, in whole or part?
4. What of it?
One must master first the analytical reading to answer numbers 3 and 4. One must understand the environment of the reader; the past, present and future. They must dig the knowledge out of the society and so one, this include language, culture and history. Well, this will took you a wider view of the World. The author also encourage readers to write notes in the book! O hell 'ya! I can't do that part. I'm always saving the quality of my book as my own and not inking them. Anyway, it depends on the reader itself but I'll try that tip of him soon.
I have a question, what are the three kinds of note-taking? I only remember reading inspectional type of note-taking.
Chapters 6: Pigeonholing a Book
Pigeonholing or dissecting of a pigeon, simplifying categories or whatever. Pigeonholing might help readers read the proper book. So one must first observe the title. Okay, this is a very tricky step because one must ave wide knowledge and vocab of the words pertaining the title. For example Inheritance of Loss, one might say that the title indicates the loss of the character's inheritance but more specific the the culture of Indians in the time of British colonialism. Anyway, I recommend that book if you like reading literary works.
Theoretical and practical, who cares?! Haha. Practical, something the suggested action while theoretical suggested learning mentally. There are books that find hard to read and we might slow our reading speed and there are books that we are comfortable to read that sometimes we never though of speed. So reading speed is not that important in reading, one person's interest must be on the top of it.
Yawn. Time to sleep.
Chapter four: The Second Level of Reading: Inspectional ReadingAdler and Van Doren talks about the second level of reading -- inspectional reading. Inspectional reading involves two steps: systematic skimming or pre-reading and superficial reading.
Systematic skimming involves several steps:
-- Look at the book's title and subtitle (if any);
-- Read the preface;
-- Look at the table of contents;
-- Look at the index; take note of the topics and authors discussed in the book;
-- Read the summary at the end of the book or at the end of each chapter;
-- Read the first few lines of each opening paragraph of every chapter;
-- Read the publisher's blurb.
Superficial reading involves browsing the pages of the book slowly but superficially -- scanning every page casually.
Adler and Van Doren says that inspectional reading achieves two things: It helps you know whether the book is, for you personally, worthy of being read analytically or not; and, it gives you a general idea of the book which is useful for your future reference.
The authors say that there is really no such thing as a standard reading speed. Ideally, you should simply adjust your speed according to the book's difficulty.
They also talk about reading fixations and regressions -- people's tendency to not read the book straight through without interruptions. They say these two things harm our reading because they prevent us from understanding the gist of the book. They suggest that we should use "markers" or "pointers" when we read -- this can be a pen or our finger. This increases our reading speed and comprehension significantly. Also, they say that we don't have to understand everything about the book right away. What's important is that we continue reading (without fixations and regressions) and make an effort to understand the essence of the book even if we don't understand what the author is saying 100%.
Thoughts:
I love this reading level! Basically, the idea here is that not all books that are available out there deserve to be read analytically. Majority of them are worth an inspectional reading only. And inspectional reading is very, very useful. If you follow its steps, you will have a general idea of what the book is about -- you'll know what kind of a book it is (whether it's a work of fiction or non-fiction, etc.), what its subject matter is, what its structure/outline is, and what its main arguments are.
Also, when you read a book inspectionally, you will be in a better position to decide whether the book is really that interesting or relevant for you and whether it is really worthy of your time and effort to read analytically, or whether you should just set it aside for future reference.
Adler and Van Doren's suggestion to use the finger as a "pointer" while reading is also very helpful.
"I'm loving this chapter, I mean, I need to master systematic skimming. Especially when your teacher keeps on giving bad lectures and you don't have a choice but to read the reference. Eeek! Have you ever met this kind of professor?"Yes, I have! Hehehe...
Yeah, regarding elementary reading, you're right, no one can really master or perfect it. I guess what I meant was that I'm not really good at that level yet.
"I don't know what is the problem of superficial reading, I mean, why is it superficial reading is a very sensitive case? I don't get his point. For me it was a good way to read book with concentration."
It's called superficial reading because it's just part of inspectional reading. You're not yet reading the book analytically, and therefore, with concentration. With inspectional reading, your goal is just to have a sort of "bird's eye view" of the book -- that is, its kind (whether fiction or non-fiction, etc.), subject matter, outline or structure, and, in the case of expository or non-fiction books, its main argument/s.
"Wait, I have to quote some parts. "In tackling a difficult book for the first time, read it through withough ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away." I agree! More explanation read 36."
I found this advice very helpful, too! I used to have a tendency to regress when I'm reading a book that I'm having difficulty understanding, or that contains a lot of words that I don't know the meaning of. I agree with Adler and Van Doren that that's a bad idea, because the point is to understand the book, no matter how little it may at first be. When you impose upon yourself the rule that you must understand every word of every sentence of every paragraph of every page of the book, you kind of "short-circuit" your thinking process, and therefore, you end up confused or not understanding the author at all.
"I also agree with the use of your finger or any pointer the fixate the eye. It increases speed and concentration. I already read a book tackling this strategy of speed reading which really helps me to read when I was in high school. :) Next stop, chapters 4 and 5."
It's funny because from what I can remember, my mom and our school used to teach us that it's a bad habit to read while using your fingers to point at the words that you're reading. It's such a relief that it's okay to do that. And I agree, it helps a lot with your concentration. :)
"Do I? Haha. I think this book might help us read more faster. Just follow the rules!"Yeah, but in addition to speed-reading, I think this book also offers great advice on how to understand and appreciate great books. :)
"O talking about rules, do you really believe that we master the skill of reading if we must first follow the rules (Chapter 5 and 6)? Haha. In comparison, reading is an art. Niyahaha!"
That's an interesting question. I think that there are two approaches to reading -- one is the approach this practical book is taking, which is to enjoin readers to be more methodical and disciplined in their reading by following certain rules and asking and answering certain questions while reading; and the other is a more flexible approach, which encourages readers to simply read what they want to read no matter what people may think (that is, even if people may think that the book you're reading does not really belong to a literary "canon"), and to read it without really worrying about how to assess or review it later on. An example of this latter practical book is The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distractions by Alan Jacobs, which I've started reading but haven't yet finished. After this one, you may want us to read that book next hehehe.
We can make use of either approaches. It's helpful to have rules for reading (such as classifying or "pigeonholing" a book, etc.), but if we think about rules too much, we may forget that reading is also supposed to be a joyful activity.
To go back to the chapter on inspectional reading, isn't it simply awesome?I mean, it's so cool that you can learn so much about a particular book without reading it from cover to cover! It's such a relief! I used to be the kind of person who thought that in order to get the gist of a certain book, I need to read it thoroughly. Now, I can get the essence of an expository/ non-fiction book by simply following the two steps of inspectional reading. It saves me an awful amount of time, because it lets me separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. That is, it lets me separate the books that are worthy of being read analytically and those that don't really deserve a more careful reading.
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How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Adler and Charles van Doren
Book buddies:
1. Kwesi 章英狮
2. Maldita
3. Dante
Speed:
One chapter a day
Join us if you're interested :)