How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor
A review of the new reading guide by Thomas C. Foster
Thomas C. Foster published How to Read Literature Like a Professor in 2003 as a helpful guide for readers to understand what’s potentially below the surface of any fictional book you read. The book discusses symbolism, theme, and allusions to famous works, such as Shakespeare and the Bible, among many other aspects of literature. Adopting a conversational writing style, Foster’s book is both enlightening and thought-provoking, and it’s one I highly recommend to my fellow English teachers because he outlines some great strategies for thinking about literature in a way that inspires critical thinking. Reading is largely a subjective activity, and much of what we read is filtered through our experiences, personalities, and assumptions. But Foster challenges us to think deeply about the things we read.
In How to Read Nonfiction Like a Professor, Foster continues the discussion he began in his earlier book to expand to the world of nonfiction writing. And the discussion is vitally important. In an age when information is spread widely and quickly, and yet you never really know initially if what you’re reading represents fact or someone’s interpretation of events or ideas or even outright lies, critical thinking about the things we read is more important than ever.
