How to Read a Book: The Ultimate Guide by Mortimer Adler

This guide dives into how to read a book using the classical framework provided by Mortimer Adler. By the time you finish reading, you’ll have a framework for reading at different levels that you can apply right away. As part of our series on reading, we’ll explore the following books:

How We Learn To Read

A lot of people confuse knowing the name of something with understanding

• Anything easily digested is reading for information
• You’re likely to parrot an opinion that isn’t yours as if you had done the work
• Learning something insightful requires mental work

Analytical Reading

Be thorough

• Classify the book according to kind and subject matter
• State what the book is about with the utmost brevity
• Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole
• Define the problem or problems the author is trying to solve

Syntopical Reading

This involves reading many books on the same subject and comparing and contrasting ideas, vocabulary, and arguments

• The goal is to understand the subject and develop a deep fluency
• There are five steps to syntopical reading: Finding the Relevant Passages
• Bringing the Author to Terms
• Getting the Questions Clear
• Defining the Issues
• Analyzing the Discussion

How You Read Matches Why You’re Reading

The goal of reading determines how you read.

• While many people are proficient in reading for information and entertainment, few improve their ability to read for knowledge.
• Before we can improve our reading skills, we need to understand the differences in the reading levels.

Becoming a Demanding Reader

Ask yourself these four questions: what is this book about, what is being said in detail, and how?

Inspectional Reading

This is meant to be a quick check of the book by reading the preface, table of contents, etc.

• Systematic skimming helps you reach to a decision point: Does this book deserve more attention? If not, put it down. Superficial reading is when you just read – don’t ponder, just read.

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