I purchased this book because I am back on the Classical Education kick, and going full force with it this time.  It arrived and sat on my bookshelf for a few days and it probably would have stayed there with my many, many other book that I buy with great intentions, only to have them be dust collectors. 

Then a get a comment on my blog one day from Classical Mamma telling me that she is beginning an online discussion of the book How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren.  The book that I had just purchased!  It seemed like fate, so I joined her Reading Partner Group.  Let me tell you a bit about HTRAB...

It basically teaches you how to read on a whole new level, to read to increase your understanding, not just to gather information.  Here is a something from chapter one, put in my words:

We do not have to know everything about something to understand it...likewise, reading new books or gathering new information does not mean we have reached a level of understanding

We must be more active in reading and demand more from ourselves so we will gain more from the books we are reading.

"All of use, without exception, can learn to read better and gradually gain more by our efforts through applying them to more rewarding materials." ~HTRAB

If you are daunted by the thought of reading the classics, the Great Books, or even some of the more challenging books of our day, I suggest you get this book and learn how to increase your understaning of what you read, and learn to how to get the most out of what you are reading.