“How to Read a Book”
August 11, 2021
WHEN I WAS in my thirties, I began to read books differently. I felt a bit guilty about doing things this way, but, what the heck, no one was looking over my shoulders. I didn’t have anyone to please when it came to reading but myself.
I would pick up a book and check out the title page. Then, as long as it was non-fiction, I would go right to the end. I would read some of the very last chapter, usually a few paragraphs or, if interested, a few pages.
I would then go to the middle of the book, and read a few pages or paragraphs. After that, I would read the table of contents and scan the entire book quickly, with my thumb on the edge of the pages, and stop here and there, looking at chapter headings and random paragraphs. Maybe I would stop for a while in one place.
Finally, I would read some of the beginning. If the book seemed worth reading, I would later start from the very beginning and read the book in the conventional way, from start to finish.
To this day, I start many books at the end, whether they are digital or hard versions.
This method is very similar to one described by the late Mortimer Adler in his book How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, which I later encountered and which made me realize that it was okay to do things this way with certain types of books. Adler, who wrote the first edition of his book in 1940 and heavily revised it in 1972, describes the different types of reading and recommends methods of first scanning non-fiction books before you fully read them. He also explains how to approach classics, making them much more approachable for the ordinary reader. Often it is actually best to read summaries first so that you are not trudging through darkness and, knowing some basics of plot and setting, can work on overcoming language difficulties. And he explains why reading is important.
Some people have a misplaced reverence for books and believe it is sacrilege to do anything but start on the very first page and proceed dutifully page by page from there. Guess what? It’s okay to mess around! And that’s one of the lessons this great book by Adler teaches.
I suspect many people don’t read as much as they could in this Age of Information because they are going about it in a burdensome way. They have busy lives and think they need more energy for reading than they actually need. They may believe they don’t have the ability to focus. For that reason, they stop reading books and there is plenty to distract them from it.
As Adler wrote:
Television, radio, and all the sources of amusement and information that surround us in our daily lives are also artificial props. They can give us the impression that our minds are active, because we are required to react to stimuli from the outside. But the power of those external stimuli to keep us going is limited. They are like drugs. We grow used to them, and we continuously need more and more of them. Eventually, they have little or no effect. Then, if we lack resources within ourselves, we cease to grow intellectually, morally, and spiritually. As we cease to grow, we begin to die.
Adler wrote his book well before the Internet. The distractions are greater today.
His work is still timely and is especially recommended for college students who might be intimidated and overwhelmed by their assigned reading, if they get much of that.
[D]o not try to understand every word or page of a difficult book the first time through. This is the most important rule of all; it is the essence of inspectional reading.
Here is another form of “irreverence” I learned from reading: It’s okay to fail at understanding what an author is saying in either one or many of his points or scenes. Honestly, it’s okay. It may just take time to sink in or you may not be ready for what is said. But you have introduced a thought or concept or image to yourself. That’s enough!
Don’t exhaust yourself in reading because then you will only turn away from it. If a little taste here and there is all you can manage, that is enough.
— Comments —
Constance writes:
I truly enjoyed your post on the book “How to Read a Book” and what you learned from it. I believe I read that book years ago but clearly did not retain the wisdom that Adler communicated. It is refreshing to be re-introduced to it as I have often felt that (especially when comparing myself to avid readers) that I am somehow “doing it wrong”.
I am no novice certainly as I have home educated my four children through high school and have read aloud countless books, both fiction and non-fiction, to them with great enjoyment. My particular preference for myself is reading non-fiction. I do have a question for you, though. I am currently in a mom’s reading group/club called the “Well Read Mom”. In this club an annual theme is selected that references women and a series of books are selected for the year that we read and discuss each month. Many of the themes can be quite heavy (e.g. “Crime and Punishment”). I enjoy most of the women in the group, but it is obvious that some of them are more scholarly than others. I would put myself somewhere in the middle.
I was just wondering what you think of such clubs particularly in light of the principles that Adler addresses. Again, sometimes I think I am not reading correctly or well enough which can discourage one from reading at all.
I would appreciate your insights as you are always so practical. Thank you for persevering with your blog. I truly enjoy your posts and miss them when you take a short break. I look forward to your response when time is available to you.
Laura writes:
Thank you very much for writing and for your encouragement.
I suggest you read Adler’s book again if you can — or at least some of it. I’m sure you can get it through a library. It would be a great book for a book club!!
As far as your apprehension about not reading correctly, you may be burdening yourself with unrealistic expectations. Also, reading some books requires patience and getting through those moments of tedium may make you feel as if you are not doing things correctly. But if you consistently feel bored and burdened, something is not right.
A book may be very good but not right for us at a particular time. What matters most is whether our reading is inspiring us to reflect and think or to travel to different times and places. Sometimes all we need is one or two pages. Reading is a search for truth — and there are different kinds of truth, some on an intuitive level, such as the mysteries of personality. Novels help us know people we couldn’t know otherwise and understand the amazing diversity of personalities and the complexity of human motives. If taken in the right spirit, they should greatly expand our sympathies and make us less ideological.
As far as book clubs, I have a problem with the feminist orientation of many of them. Anything focused on women is just out for me. Also, I worry that they may get bogged down in subjective impressions, so I’ve never joined them. Sometimes I wonder whether women’s book clubs aren’t based on a feminist inferiority complex in women. In other words, it’s not okay to just get together and chat; you have to be doing something important. But I know many people get great pleasure from them and I am not condemning book clubs in general. It might be best to approach the club you are in with the idea that this is primarily a social activity. You enjoy the other women and want to cultivate friendship. So treat the subject matter of the books lightly. Don’t expect to advance much in your reading or use it for that purpose. It’s just for conversation. If other women are saying dazzlingly brilliant things, so be it. Just show interest and don’t expect to compete. I’m sure they like having a sympathetic listener.
