How to Read a Book
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4.2 • 108 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
With half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader, completely rewritten and updated with new material.
A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done.” –Farheed Zakaria
Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text.
Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science works.
Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests you can use measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.
Customer Reviews
See AllA book worth reading once is worth reading twice (or four times!)
The authors teach you how to read great books like you'll have them for a few days then never see them again--giving you the tools you need to make them your own and to remember them in a year or a decade.
This includes learning to read on four different levels: analytically, synthetically, critically, and syntopically (more than one author on the same topic). Once you master the book, practice the techniques in a seminar or in a reading group. It's hard to read great books on your own (they are rarely easy to understand, or they would not be called great). It takes support and a few months to turn these reading techniques into habits.
Awful
Worst book I’ve ever read. Couldn’t even finish it. Complete waste of money.
Informational yet Dragged-Out
Adler’s the advice and information is useful, however, I feel it could have been abridged. There are many times throughout the book where Adler makes a simple, straightforward statement which is easily understandable, yet he doubles down and yaps for a couple extra paragraphs. Overall still worth a read if you have the time.