image provided by freefotoA good friend recommended this book to me a few months ago and I must say that I'm recommending it to you today. At first glance, the book seems likely to found in kindergartens across the country, but no no my friend, this is a book for the serious reader.
The premise of the book is that most of us do not read books well. We read yet do not comprehend. We read far and wide but not deep. Adler takes a quality over quantity approach to reading. He sees little if any value in just reading words on a page. This book teaches you to read and understand, and then critique the ideas and form your own opinions. In other words, he teaches you to read analytically.
Life is short. Adler agrees. He does not want you to waste time on books that are not worth reading. Go for the 'great books' he says. In reading and struggling through books that are above your head, you can better yourself. If you read books that are beneath you and you understand them completely on the first reading, you have not gained anything. But, if you read (and understand) from the masters you can pull yourself to a state of understanding and be like or almost like the masters themselves.
This book is definitely inspiring. My friend and I and few others have been challenged to apply Adler's techniques to some of the great books. We are starting with the Republic by Plato (I guess its really by Socrates, but Plato wrote it down--but that's open to debate). From there we may go on to some Gibbon with the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I believe my friend is making a blog where we can all comment and go through the book together. If you are interested, message me, or leave a comment and I'll send the blog address.
Adler is big on intellectual ownership of a book as opposed to merely financial ownership. He encourages you to really mark up the book. As someone who likes to keep things in good condition, I have found this hard to do in the past. When I did attempt to mark up books it resulted in haphazard underlining and highlighting. But Adler teaches you to mark up with purpose and this really helps to crystallize the authors message in your understanding.
Check it out! Read some other reviews on Amazon and pick up a copy, then begin your own journey to figuring out the world and then make it a better place!
3 comments:
If I didn't know how to read a book I probably wouldn't buy this one. But since I DO know how to read, I have no use for it!!
Don't let the title deceive you!
We have recently made an exciting discovery--three years after writing the wonderfully expanded third edition of How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren made a series of thirteen 14-minute videos on the art of reading. The videos were produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica. For reasons unknown, sometime after their original publication, these videos were lost.
When we discovered them and how intrinsically edifying they are, we negotiated an agreement with Encyclopaedia Britannica to be the exclusive worldwide agent to make them available.
For those of you who teach, this is great for the classroom.
I cannot over exaggerate how instructive these programs are--we are so sure that you will agree, if you are not completely satisfied, we will refund your donation.
Please go here to see a clip and learn more:
http://www.thegreatideas.org/HowToReadABook.htm
Post a Comment