“How to read a book” written by Mortimer J. Adler? — My Summary and Analysis
This book is not for everyone,
Then for whom this book is written for?????
From reading the book what I understood is, this book is for those people (readers) whose main purpose in reading is to gain increased understanding. The author is trying to develop a SKILL to read books. He proposed certain rules and cleared certain myths (false beliefs) to develop the skill. He is arguing that if followed and practiced these rules, one can become a demanding reader i.e. one can gain an increased understanding of any given book. This skill can be applied not only to books but also for any printed material — Newspapers, research papers, magazines, pamphlets, articles, advertisements etc. In Part three of this book he explained, how to apply this skill to different types of books (practical books, theoretical books, fiction books, philosophical etc.)?
The essence of your skill in understanding, lies in how best you can answer the below four questions.
- What is the book about as a whole? — i.e. what is the author trying to say? (main theme, plot, point, argument etc.). you must try to discover the leading theme of the book, and how the author develops this theme in an orderly way by subdividing it into its essential subordinate themes and topics.
- What is being said in detail and how? — i.e. how the author is trying to say it? (techniques, evidences, examples, methodologies etc.). you must try to discover the main ideas, assertions and arguments that constitute the authors particular message.
- Is the book true, in whole or part? — you cannot answer this question until you answer the first two. You have to know what is being said before you can decide whether it is true or not. When you understand a book, however, you are obligated, if you are reading seriously, to make up your own mind. Knowing the authors mind is not enough.
- What of it? i.e. does it matters? (more specifically, how does it matter to youuuu???) If the book has given you enough information, you must ask about its significance. Why does the author think it is important to know these things? is it important to you to know them? And if the book has not only informed you, but also enlightened you, it is necessary to seek further enlightenment by asking what else follows, what is further implied or suggested.
Answering the above four questions is the only obligation for you as a reader.
- How can you do that?
- Does every book deserve answers for these four questions?
- How can you separate out the scrap?
For these you need to understand different levels of reading, rules pertaining to each level. Inspectional reading — tends to provide more accurate answers to the first two questions, and to some extent for the 3rd and 4th questions. Whereas, Analytical reading focus more on answering the 3rd and 4th questions i.e. until you answered 3rd and 4th questions satisfactorily or until you have some idea of the books truth, in whole or part, and of its significance, your analytical reading is not accomplished completely. The 4th question is the most important question in Syntopical reading. As per the order, until you answer the first three, you cannot answer 4th one. More specifically, the Art of reading is defined as a trained ability to answer these four Questions.
Never Forget — Reading a book on any level beyond the elementary is essentially an effort on your side to ask it questions (and to answer them to the best of your ability). That is the only difference between demanding and undemanding reader, the later asks no questions (and obviously gets no answers…).
