REVIEW: "How to Read Books" by Mortimer Adler

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Mortimer Adler, author of Myth's How To Read Books: A Guide to Reading Great Writings, identifies two types of reading: for information and for understanding. Obviously, it is necessary to talk about such a book at the junction of these two concepts.

And you should start with a startling statement.

We can't read.

You cannot read books, neither do I and your literature teacher. Probably, each of us noticed how, while reading a book, he was mentally distracted, and after a few pages he realized that he had just been doing background reading, without understanding or remembering anything. This is roughly what your reading today looks like compared to the way you read it in Mortimer Adler's book.

Initially, the book was published back in 1940, so its author is inclined to indulge in lengthy reasoning and pour a lot of water, but after all, the pace of life was different before? In addition, the author honestly admits that with the help of his book you will not learn to read, bearing in mind the need for practice to master this art. On the other hand, if you even try, you have a chance to multiply the benefits you get from reading and make up for deficiencies in education.

Mortimer Adler argued that a good, thoughtful reader reads a book three times, or rather in three ways.

The first way is structural or analytical. At this stage, the reader should understand the structure of the book, pay attention to the content and the main thematic components.
The second way is interpretive or synthetic. In this case, the reader must process the main keywords, paragraphs and sentences. Understand and interpret them, retell them in your own words and comprehend.
The third way is critical or evaluative. At this stage, the reader is invited to argue with the author of the book, to understand what are the shortcomings of what he read and where the author could be wrong. It is worth remembering, however, that there are no unresolvable differences and that the author is probably intellectually superior to the reader.

You must understand that with the help of this review, you will not learn to read either. As with the book itself. However, even those who read the book without paying due attention to the proposed rules and methods of reading, they will certainly see the scale of the problem of incorrect, unconscious reading.

I would make the work "How to Read Books" a compulsory reading and even a whole subject for students of modern universities, because it is with reading that the educational process should begin. But do not think that Mortimer Adler, a man of education, did a titanic job only for students. This book will be useful to everyone who wants to get the maximum benefit and pleasure from reading, who wants to learn to read actively and be fully aware of what he has read. To conclude my review, let me draw an analogy with listening to music: reading books in the usual way is like choosing a low-quality audio recording over listening to a vinyl record on good equipment. Mortimer Adler gives us both the record and the turntable. You just need to learn to hear.