Notes on

HOW TO READ A BOOK: THE CLASSIC GUIDE TO INTELLIGENT READING

By Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

Notes taken from the completely revised and updated version of 1972,  based on the original 1940 version.

Chapter 2 (pp. 16-20)

“Reading, like unaided discovery, is learning from an absent teacher. We can only do that successfully if we know how” (p. 16).

“Francis Bacon once remarked that ‘some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested’” (p. 19).

4 Levels of Reading

Levels do not function independently. One builds on another, with the 4^th including all of the others and more.

Level 1: Elementary Reading

·        Also called rudimentary reading, basic reading, initial reading.

·        Person passes from non-literacy to basic literacy.

·        Mastery means one has:

o       Learned the rudiments of the art of reading

o       Received basic training

o       Acquired initial skills

·        Generally learned in elementary school.

·        Asked of reader: “What does the sentence say?” (P. 17) (decoding words)

·        Level repeated by all readers each time they encounter something marginally familiar such as material written in a foreign language.

·        Some more mature readers still struggle with mechanics—speed reading courses generally address this level.

Level 2: Inspectional Reading

·        Also called skimming, pre-reading.

·        Reader given a limited time to read.

·        Aim: “…to get the most out of a book within a given time—usually a relatively short time, and always…too short a time to get out of the book everything that can be gotten” (p.18).

·        Not casual or random browsing, rather “the art of skimming systematically” (p.18).

·        Purpose: examine the surface of the book.

·        Asked of reader: “What is the book about? …What is the structure of the book? …What are its parts?” (p. 18)

·        Despite limited time to read, inspectional reading will reveal the type of book it is, i.e. novel, history, scientific treatise, etc.

·        Worth of this level often overlooked. Without it, reader is trying to simultaneously figure out both what the book is about and how to understand it—difficulty compounded.

·        Best reading you can do in a limited time.

Level 3: Analytical Reading

·        More complex and systematic than levels 1 and 2

·        “…thorough…complete…good reading—the best reading you can do” (p.19).

·        Best reading you can do with unlimited time.

·        Must ask many and organized questions—specifics to be discussed in Part 2.

·        Always intensely active.

·        Bacon’s chewing and digesting (see quote above from p.19).

·        Not necessary if goal is only entertainment or information.

·        “Analytical reading is preeminently for the sake of understanding” (p. 19).

·        Skill in analytical reading needed to move from less understanding to more understanding.

Level 4: Syntopical Reading

·        Most complex and systematic of all

·        Very heavy demands on the reader, even if text is relatively simple to read.

·        Also called comparative reading

·        Not just reading one book

o       Read many books

o       Place them in relation to each other and to subject

o       “…[S]yntopical reader is able to construct an analysis of the subject that may not be in any of the books” (p.20).

·        “[M]ost active and effortful kind of reading” (p.20).

·        Not easy, rules not widely known.

·        Most rewarding reading activity.

·        More on syntopical reading in Part 4.