HOW TO READ A BOOK

By Mortimer AdlerandCharles Van Doren

Part 1: The Dimensions of Reading

Chapter 1: The Activity and Art of Reading

Chapter 2: The Levels of Reading

Chapter 3: The First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading

Chapter 4: The Second Level of Reading: Inspectional Reading

Chapter 5: How to Be a Demanding Reader

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Activity and Art of Reading Introduction Active Reading The Goals of Reading

Reading for Information Reading for Understanding

Reading as Learning: The Difference Between Learning by Instruction and Learning by Discovery

Present and Absent Teachers

Introduction

Who are readers? “By ‘readers’ we mean people who are still

accustomed, as almost every literate and intelligent person used to be, to gain a large share of their information about and their understanding of the world from the written word. Not all of it, of course; even in the days before radio and television, a certain amount of information and understanding was acquired through spoken words and through observation. But for intelligent and curious people that was never enough…

“They knew that they had to read too, and they did

read.”

Active Reading

When is one reader better than another? “One reader is better than another in

proportion as he is capable of a greater range of activity in reading and exerts more effort. He is better if he demands more of himself and of the text before him.” (p.5)

Baseball Analogy Thrower, Catcher, Ball

Who does the most work?

Active Reading

Thrower Writer

Catcher Reader

Baseball Text

“There can be absolutely no passive reading.” (p.5)

Begins the process

Terminates the process

The passive, common object

Active Reading

So, who is a better reader? “For the moment, it suffices to say that,

given the same thing to read, one person reads it better than another, first, by reading it more actively, and second, by performing each of the acts involved more skillfully.” (p.6)

1- Active 2- Skilled

The Goals of Reading: Reading for InformationReading for Understanding

Three Scenarios 1: You get what you read. End of

story. 2: (A) You don’t get what you read,

and you get someone or something to help you.

2: (B) You don’t get what you read and move on without looking back.

The Goals of Reading

Scenarios 2A and 2B

“In either case, you are not doing the job of reading that the book requires.” (p. 8)

The Goals of Reading

“That is done in only one way. Without external help of any sort, you go to work on the book. With nothing by the power of your own mind, you operate on the symbols before you in such a way that you gradually lift yourself from a state of understanding less to one of understanding more. Such elevation, accomplished by the mind working on a book, is highly skilled reading, the kind of reading that a book which challenges your understanding deserves.” (p. 8)

The Goals of Reading

Adler and Van Doren Definition: “The process whereby a mind, with

nothing to operate on but the symbols of the readable matter, and with no help from outside, elevates itself by the power of its own operations. The mind passes from understanding less to understanding more. The skilled operations that cause this to happen are the various acts that constitute the art of reading.” (p. 8)

The Goals of Reading

Reading for Learning / Information

Reading for Understanding

-Newspaper- Magazines-Same skill level materials-Texts that increase our store of information, but not our understanding- You leave the text knowing more, but with not further insight into what you know.

Two conditions must exist:-Initial inequality in understanding: The writer must be “superior” to the reader in understanding.- The reader must be able to overcome this inequality in some degree.

Reading as Learning:The Difference Between Learning by Instruction and Learning by Discovery

Enlightenment

Understanding

Learning &

Knowledge

Reading as Learning

“If you remember what an author says, you have learned something from reading him. If what he says is true, you have even learned something about the world.” (p. 11)

“Enlightenment is achieved only when, in addition to knowing what an author says, you know what he means and why he says it.” (p. 11)

Reading as Learning

What name would you give to the following people?

“Bookful blockheads, ignorantly read.”

“Those who have misread many books.”

“Ignoramuses who have read too widely and not well.”

Reading as Learning

The Greeks had a name for such a mixture of learning and folly which might be applied to the bookish but poorly read of all ages…

SophomoresThe widely read, not the well-

read.

Reading as Learning

What is the beginning of knowledge? If someone has to teach us what we

know, then where did “knowing” begin?

Discovery “The process of learning something by

research, by investigation, or by reflection, without being taught.” (p. 12)

Reading as Learning

“The art of reading, in short, includes all of the same skills that are involved in the art of unaided discovery: keenness of observation, readily available memory, range of imagination, and of course, an intellect trained in analysis and reflection.” (p. 14)

Reading as Learning

Teaching

AgricultureMedicine

What do these three have in common?

Present and Absent Teachers “If you ask a living teacher a question, he

will probably answer you. If you are puzzled by what he says, you can save yourself the trouble of thinking by asking him what he means. If, however, you ask a book a question, you must answer it yourself. In this respect a book is like nature or the world. When you question it, it answers you only to the extent that you do the work of thinking and analysis yourself.” (p. 15)

Big Ideas from Chapter 1

Baseball Analogy

Learning vs. Enlightenment

Widely Read vs. Well-Read

Discovery Teaching = Agriculture = Medicine

The ART of Reading

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Levels of Reading

Introduction Four Levels of Reading

Elementary Reading Inspectional Reading Analytical Reading Syntopical Reading

Introduction

Levels of reading are cumulative.

“The first level is not lost in the second, the second in the third, the third in the fourth. In fact, the fourth and highest level of reading includes all the others. It simply goes beyond them.” (17)

Elementary

Inspectional

Analytical

Elementary

Syntopical

Elementary

Level I: Elementary Reading AKA

Rudimentary Reading Basic Reading Initial Reading

An elementary reader’s problem is to recognize individual words on the page

Mastering this level brings a student from “nonliteracy to at least beginning literacy”

Level II: Inspectional Reading

Inspectional Reading I: Systematic Skimming or Prereading

Inspectional Reading II: Superficial Reading

Special emphasis on time

Level III: Analytical Reading Thorough reading, complete reading Intensely ACTIVE (remember the

baseball analogy)

“If inspectional reading is the best and most complete reading that is possible given a limited time, then analytical reading is the best and most complete reading that is possible given unlimited time” (19)

Level IV: Syntopical Reading

Most complex and systematic Heavy demands on the reader AKA Comparative Reading

Big Ideas from Chapter 2

Levels build upon, and include, each other

Four Reading Levels Elementary Inspectional Analytical Syntopical

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The First Level of Reading: Elementary Introduction Stages of Learning to Read Stages and Levels Higher Levels of Reading and Higher

Education Reading and the Democratic Ideal of

Education

Level I: Elementary Reading AKA

Rudimentary Reading Basic Reading Initial Reading

An elementary reader’s problem is to recognize individual words on the page

Mastering this level brings a student from “nonliteracy to at least beginning literacy”

The cat sat on the hat.

“The first grader is not really concerned at this point with whether cats do sit on hats, or with what this implies about cats, hats, and the world.” (17)

What does this sentence say? Even capable readers can continue

to experience some elementary level problems

Think about learning a foreign language… Senorita Harrison es una maestra, y ahora

está enseñando. 1st effort- identify/define individual

words 2nd effort- understand the sentence’s

meaning

Remember Kindergarten…

When you first learned to read, what method of reading was taught to you? ABC method (taught letters first; no

meaning) Phonic method (sounds rather than

letters) Whole Word method (self explanatory )

Have you seen strengths or weaknesses in that method?

Stages of Learning to Read Stage 1 – Reading Readiness

Physical Intellectual Language Personal

“Jumping the gun is usually self-defeating” (24)

Stages of Learning to Read Stage 2 – Word Mastery

Read very simple materials About 300 sight words Basic skills – context clues, sounding out words

“At one moment in the course of his development the child, when faced with a series of symbols on a page, finds them quite meaningless. Not much later –perhaps only two or three weeks later – he has discovered meaning in them. He knows that they say ‘The cat sat on the hat.’” (25)

Stages of Learning to Read Stage 3 – Quest to Find Meaning

Rapid increase in vocabulary Increasing skill in “unlocking” the

meaning through context clues Learn to read for different purposes and

content begin to read outside of school

(hopefully)

Stages of Learning to Read Stage 4 – Refinement/Enhancement

Perfect skills already acquired Assimilate reading experiences –

compare/contrast various authors, texts, themes

At what age should students be at Level 1 Stage 4?- Ideally— early teens- Sad reality – many do not ever reach it

Why?

Stages and Levels

The Four Stages outlined in this Chapter are all stages in the FIRST level of reading

Level 1- Elementary Reading Stage 1- Reading Readiness (by

kindergarten) Stage 2-Word Mastery (by 1st grade) Stage 3- Quest for Meaning (by 4th

grade) Stage 4- Refinement/Enhancement (by

8th grade)

Higher Levels of Reading

“Only when [a reader] has mastered all of the four stages of elementary reading is the child prepared to move on to the higher levels of reading” (28)

Higher Levels of Reading and Higher Education

High school and college reading courses, with some exceptions, are remedial

Aimed to increase speed reading, “effective” reading, or “competence”

Designed to overcome various failures of the lower schools

Graduate school courses help students attain higher levels of reading ability

Reading and the Democratic Ideal of Education “Unlimited educational opportunity—

or, speaking practically, educational opportunity that is limited only by individual desire, ability and need—is the most valuable service that society can provide for its members…” (30)

Reading and the Democratic Ideal of Education “…We must be more than a nation of

functional literates. We must become a nation of truly competent readers… Nothing less will satisfy the needs of the world that is coming” (30).

Big Ideas of Chapter 3

Level 1 readers (Elementary) find meaning in the most basic sense of the word

Stages v. Levels Entrance into Higher Levels of

Reading Higher Education Functional Literates v. Competent

Readers

Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Second Level of Reading: Inspectional Introduction Inspectional Reading I: Systematic

Skimming or Prereading Inspectional Reading II: Superficial

Reading On Reading Speeds Fixations and Regressions The Problem of Comprehension

INSPECTional

What does it mean “to inspect”?

Based on that definition, predict what inspectional reading is.

Two Types of Inspectional Reading

Inspectional Reading I: Systematic Skimming or Pre-reading

Inspectional Reading II:Superficial Reading

Systematic Skimming or Pre-Reading

When you go to the library, how do you select a book to read (for information, not entertainment)?

1) Don’t know if you want to read it2) Don’t know if it deserves an

analytical reading3) Limited time

Systematic Skimming or Pre-ReadingSteps1) Title page and Preface2) Table of Contents3) Index4) Publisher’s Blurb5) Chapters that seem Pivotal 6) Skim pages – read a paragraph on a

page or two, never more

Superficial Reading

Situation: Begin a difficult book with high hopes Get frustrated that you don’t understand it Believe it was a mistake to try in the first

place

Problem: Expecting too much from the first “going

over” of a difficult book

Superficial Reading

Solution:

“In tackling a difficult book for the first time, read it through without ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away” (36)

Focus on what you do understand

Superficial Reading

If you run for help too soon… Teacher Parent Friend Dictionary Internet Resource…it only impedes your reading, instead of

actually helping it.

On Reading Speeds

Reading quicker is not necessarily better

A good speed reader should Be able to read at various speeds on

demand To know when different speeds are

appropriate

The Declaration of Independence

Look at it. How fast should

you read it?

The second paragraph ends: “To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.”

The pages of “facts” – not necessary in an Inspectional Reading

You can skim for the kinds of facts

The Problem of Comprehension If you increase your speed, you have

saved time… but what about comprehension?

Limited comprehension – summarize what it says

Higher level comprehension requires analytical reading

Big Ideas from Chapter 4

Two types of Inspectional Reading Systematic Skimming or Pre-Reading (5

steps) Superficial Reading (summary)

Active, not passive

Skilled “Speed” Readers” and what they do

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: How to be a Demanding Reader The Essence of Active Reading: The Four Basic

Questions a Reader asks

How to Make a Book Your Own

The Three Kinds of Note-making

Forming the Habit of Reading

From Many Rules to One Habit

Introduction

At the end of this chapter we’re going to set goals for ourselves. Your going to select two (2) of the ideas proposed by Adler and Van Doren, and you are going to attempt to master them within the first grading period.

Introduction

“Whether you manage to keep awake or not depends in large part on your goal in reading. If your aim in reading is to profit from it – to grow somehow in mind or spirit – you have to keep awake. That means reading as actively as possible. It means making an effort – an effort for which you expect to be repaid.” (p. 45)

The Essence of Active Reading: The Four Basic Questions a Reader Asks There is “one simple prescription for

active reading. It is:

Ask questions while you read – questions that you yourself

must try to answer in the course of reading.” (p. 46)

The Four Basic Questions 1 – What is the book about as a whole?

Theme Developing Theme Subordinate Themes

2 – What is being said in detail, and how? Main Ideas Assertions Arguments

3 – Is the book true, in whole or part? Must answer 1 and 2 first. You must make up your own mind, not simply restate what

the author asserts. 4 – What of it?

Why does the author think it important to know these things? Is it important to you to know them? What does the information inspire you to do?

The Four Basic Questions 1 –

2 –

3 –

4 -

The Four Basic Questions

“Reading a book on any level beyond the elementary is essentially an effort on your part to ask it questions (and to answer them to the best of your ability). That should never be forgotten. And that is why there is all the difference in the world between the demanding and the undemanding reader. The latter asks no questions – and gets no answers.” (p. 47)

How to Make a Book Your Own “Full ownership of a book only comes when you

have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it – which comes to the same thing – is by writing in it.”

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”

“Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.” (p. 49)

How to Make a Book Your Own 1 – Underlining

Of major points; of important or forceful statements 2 – Vertical Lines at the Margin

To emphasize a statement already underlined or to point to a passage too long to be underlined

3 – Star, Asterisk, or Other Doodad at the Margin

Use sparingly 10 – 12 for an entire book Dog-Ear pages

4 – Numbers in the Margin Indicating sequence of events or arguments

How to Make a Book Your Own 5 – Numbers of Other Pages in the Margin

Same Book or Different Book Support or Opposition

6 – Circling of Key Words or Phrases See “underlining”

7 – Writing in the Margin, or at the Top or Bottom of the Page

Questions Answers Front and Back endpapers used for personal index

The Three Kinds of Note-Making Structural

“These notes primarily concern the structure of the book, and not its substance – at least not in detail.” (p. 51)

Conceptual “They concern the author’s concepts, and also your own,

as they have been deepened or broadened by your reading of the book.” (p. 51)

Dialectical “Made concerning several books, not just one, they often

have to be made on a separate sheet (or sheets) of paper.” (p. 51)

Forming the Habit of Reading

“Now there is no other way of forming a habit of operation that by operating.” (p. 52-53)

“Knowing the rules of an art is not the same as having the habit.” (p. 53)

From Many Rules to One Habit “Reading is like Skiing.” (p. 54)

Grace Individual Skills Putting the Parts Together

Separate Acts form One Movement “But in order to forget them as separate

acts, you have to learn them first a separate acts.” (p. 55)

From Many Rules to One Habit “It is relatively easy to think of an be

conscious of physical acts. It is much harder to think of mental acts, as the beginning of analytical reader must do; in a sense, he is thinking about his own thoughts.” (p. 56)

Metacognition

Goal Setting

What do you want to do better as a reader? Be specific, and think about what Adler

and Van Doren write about in the first five chapters.

What two (2) forms of making your book your own do you want to master in the first nine weeks? (you may not choose highlighting) Go back to you list from Chapter 5 if you

don’t remember.