how to read a book part ii

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Notes from the book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren How to Read a Book: Part Two

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How to Read a Book Part II

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Page 1: How to Read a Book Part II

Notes from the book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

How to Read a Book: Part Two

Page 2: How to Read a Book Part II

Level Three Stage One: What is the book about?Pigeonholing a BookX-Raying a Book

Level Three Stage Two: Rules for interpreting the book’s contents (What is being said in detail and how?)Coming to Terms with an AuthorDetermining an Author’s Message

Level Three Stage Three: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge (To answer: Is it true? What of it?) Intellectual EtiquetteCriticizing a Book Fairly

Overview: Analytical Reading

Page 3: How to Read a Book Part II

Rule 1: What kind of book is it? (Try to answer the question before you read the book)Read the titleIs the book practical or theoretical? (Or fiction?)

Practical: “should”; “how” ; what should we do and what is the right way to do it?

Theoretical: “is”; what is the true nature of something?History: chronotopic; what happened at a particular date in

a particular place?Science: explores that which is outside daily experience;

arguments based on lab experiments or special observations

Philosophical: based on everyday life and observations; armchair thinking and common experience

L3.S1: Analytical Reading: Pigeonholing a Book

Page 4: How to Read a Book Part II

Rule 2: State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at most a few sentences What is the main theme or point? In a story, what is the plot? Often stated in the introduction to nonfiction books

Rule 3: Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole Outline a book: main structure, sub-structure, detailed

arguments A perfect outline may be longer than the book Approximations: do as much as needed to understand a

worthwhile book Surface structure helpful; but look beneath to “skeleton” or

structure of ideas

L3.S1: Analytical Reading: X-Raying a Book

Page 5: How to Read a Book Part II

In How to Read a Book, Adler and Van Doren provide rules by which a reader can improve his/her art or reading.

Outline:1. Introduction2. Levels of Reading3. First Level4. Second Level5. Third Level

1. Pigeonholing a booka. Rule 1: What kind of book is it?

i. Read the titleii. Practical or theoretical?

a). Practical: should or howb). Theoreticali). Historyii). Scienceiii). Philosophy

6. Approaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter7. Fourth Level

Sample Part of an Outline: How to Read a Book

Page 6: How to Read a Book Part II

Reading: try to discover the skeleton or structure under the text

Writing: start with an outline and cover it artistically; give well-shaped flesh to the skeleton and keep joints, segments, and limbs clear

Writing should have unity, clarity, and coherence

Reading uncovers these: the unity of the theme or plot; the clarity and coherence of a well-organized structure

Reciprocal Art of Reading and Writing

Page 7: How to Read a Book Part II

Rule 4: Find out what the author’s problems wereWhat questions does the author try to answer in his/her

text?Which are the primary and secondary questions?Common questions:

TheoreticalDoes something exist? What kind of thing is it? What caused it

to exist, under what conditions can it exist, or why does it exist? What purpose does it serve? What are the consequences of its existence? What are its characteristics? What are its relations to other things?

PracticalWhat ends should be sought? What means should be chosen?

What is the right thing to do in this situation?

L3.S1: Analytical Reading: X-Raying a Book

Page 8: How to Read a Book Part II

What is the book about?1. Classify the book according to its subject

matter2. State what the whole book is about with the

utmost clarity3. Enumerate its major parts in their order and

relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole

4. Define the problem or problems the author is trying to solve

Review L3.S1

Page 9: How to Read a Book Part II

Words may have multiple meaningsA term is one of the meanings, an “unambiguous

word”To communicate clearly, the meaning used must be

understood by the author and readerTerms:

“a skilled use of words for the sake of communicating knowledge”

“A term is the basic element of communicable knowledge”

Terms need to be clear in expository writing; Poetry and fiction purposely use ambiguous words

L3.S2: Analytical Reading: Coming to Terms with an Author

Page 10: How to Read a Book Part II

Rule 5: Find the important words and through them come to terms with the authorHow to find important words:

Omit unimportant onesFind words used in titles, headingsFind words that are emphasized with bold type, capitals,

italics, quotes, colorWords that you have trouble understandingWords that the author carefully defines or uses in a specific

wayTechnical terms: words with very specific definitions;

sometimes common words are given a specific definition by an author

Knowing the genre of the book may help, as “Every field of knowledge has its own technical vocabulary”

L3.S2: Analytical Reading: Coming to Terms with an Author

Page 11: How to Read a Book Part II

Rule 5: Find the important words and through them come to terms with the authorFind the meanings of words:

Use context: “discover the meaning of a word you do not understand by using the meanings of all the other words in the context that you do understand.” Use definitions Work with meanings like a jigsaw puzzle—try different approaches

until they fitNote that different words may have the same meaning and thus

be the same term.Conversely, the same word may have different meanings or

represent different termsSometimes a phrase acts as a single concept or a single term;

test to see if the phrase can be used as a subject or object in a sentence.

L3.S2: Analytical Reading: Coming to Terms with an Author

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Summary: What are the author’s main claims and arguments to support the claims?

Rule 6: Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they containPropositions: claims that the author is makingThere may be several propositions in one

sentenceRule 7: Locate or construct the basic

arguments in the book by finding them in the connection of sentences

L3.S2 Analytical Reading: Determining an Author's Meaning

Page 13: How to Read a Book Part II

Rule 6: Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they containFind most important sentences:

The major affirmations and denials and the reasons for theseSentences emphasized in the layout of the textThe sentences that contain the key termsThe sentences that are difficult to understand: “be perplexed

and know it”; “wonder is the beginning of wisdom”Find the propositions:Propositions: claims that the author is makingThere may be several propositions in one sentenceUse grammar and logic to distinguish propositions“State in your own words!”

L3.S2 Analytical Reading: Determining an Author's Meaning

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Rule 7: (Paraphrased) Find a summary paragraph of the arguments in a book; otherwise assemble a paragraph that contains the key arguments in a bookRewrite or number arguments in the margins of a bookFind reasons and conclusionsInductive: from particular facts to generalizationsDeductive: from premises/generalizations to conclusionsDistinguish between propositions that are said to be

assumed, proved, or self-evidentTautology: “The father of a father is a grandfather”Self-evident: “The whole is greater than its parts”

L3.S2 Analytical Reading: Determining an Author's Meaning

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Rule 8: Find out what the author’s solutions areGo back to Rule 4 and find the author’s

questions or problemsWhich questions are answered?What new questions are raised?Does the author know if the questions are

answered or not?

L3.S2 Analytical Reading: Finding the Author's Solutions

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Stage 1: The genre and structure of the bookStage 2: What does the book say in detail?Rules for Level 3, Stage 2:

5. Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words6. Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences7. Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences8. Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and as to the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve

Review of Level 3, Stage 2

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Key Questions: Is it true? What of it?Rules for Intellectual Etiquette9. Do not begin criticism until you have completed

your outline and your interpretation of the book. (Do not say “I agree” or “I disagree” until you can say “I understand”Once you understand a book, you can argue with it; You can’t argue against something you don’t

understandPersist in trying to understand; only if you can show

how the book is incomprehensible can you justifiably say “I do not understand” as criticism of the book

L3.S3: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge

Page 18: How to Read a Book Part II

10. Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiouslyRecognize your own emotions and prejudicesExplicitly state your assumptions; be fair in

allowing the author to state his assumptionsTry to read a book sympathetically from the

author’s point of view

L3.S3: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge

Page 19: How to Read a Book Part II

11. Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgment you makeYou may:

Disagree and state your reasonsShow why you must suspend judgmentAgree

L3.S3: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge

Page 20: How to Read a Book Part II

Special Criteria for Points of CriticismRules:12. Show wherein the author is uninformed:

State that the author lacks certain knowledge that is relevant to the discussion

State what the missing knowledge is and how it would affect the discussion

Examples:Darwin lacked the knowledge of geneticsGibbon lacked certain information about the fall of

Rome

L3.S3: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge

Page 21: How to Read a Book Part II

13. Show wherein the author is misinformedThe author has a wrong understanding; he makes

assertions contrary to factHe is claiming to have knowledge that he does not

possessYou should point this out if it affects his conclusions;

show what is the truth or what is a position with greater probability of being true

Examples:Spinoza: said democracy was more primitive than monarchyAristotle: “misinformed about the role that the female factor

plays in animal reproduction”Aquinas: “supposed that the matter of the heavenly bodies is

essentially different from that of terrestrial bodies”

L3.S3: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge

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14. Show wherein the author is illogicalNon sequitur: “does not follow”; the conclusion does

not follow from the premisesExample: Machiavelli: “The chief foundations of all states,

new as well as old, are good laws. As there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.”

Logic: Well armed states = good laws? Non sequitur.Inconsistent: the author makes claims that contradict

each otherExample: Hobbes:

The world of bodies has not qualities whatsoeverMan is himself nothing but a body, or a collection of atomic

bodies in motionColors, odors, tastes, are nothing but the motion of atoms in

the brain.Inconsistent: how can something without qualities show

qualities of colors, odors and tastes?

Page 23: How to Read a Book Part II

15. Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete.Show how the author is incomplete in his

analysisAgree with the part that you cannot contestSuspend judgment on the whole for being

incompleteExamples:

Aristotle’s Politics: Failed to include the idea of a truly democratic constitution based on universal suffrage

Euclid’s Elements of Geometry: failed to consider other postulates about the relation of parallel lines

Dewey’s How We Think: failed to discuss the sort of learning that occurs in reading or through instruction

Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius are considered incomplete in their thinking by people who believe in the immortality of the soul

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Final option in criticism: Once you understand the author’s claims and

arguments andIf you cannot disagree and show that the

author is:UninformedMisinformedIllogical

And if you cannot show that the author’s analysis is incomplete,

(And if you cannot show that the author is incomprehensible,)

Then you must AGREE.

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Is it true?What measure of truth has the text achieved?If I cannot show why the claims are

uninformed, misinformed, or illogical, and if I cannot suspend judgment, I logically have to accept the claims as true

Most important criteria for judging any writingWhat of it?

If it is true, what are the implications for life, action, and understanding?

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Intrinsic reading: seeking to understand the book only with reference to itself and by the power of your mind

Extrinsic reading: seeking help from outside sources

Rule: Do not seek other aids until you have done your best to read the text according to the rules of intrinsic reading.

Aids to Reading

Page 27: How to Read a Book Part II

Types of aids to reading:Relevant experience

Common human experience in reading fiction and philosophy

Special experience in sciencesHistory uses both types of experience: discusses common

experiences but based on special sourcesOther books in the “conversation”

Books that may have influenced the thinking of the authorCommentaries and abstracts

Do not read them until after you have read the book yourself

May give helpful insights May limit you to seeing the book in only one wayMay omit important perspectives or informationException: Abstracts useful in syntopical reading to see if

you want to read the book

Page 28: How to Read a Book Part II

Further aids to readingReference books

Know what you want to findWhere to find it—in which type of reference bookHow a reference book is organizedWhether the information is considered knowable (generally

agreed on information; not unsupported opinion)Dictionaries

Find spelling and part of speech for wordsFind many meanings of wordsFind history and changes to words

EncyclopediasCollections of factsFacts are “true” propositions, or agreed-on propositionsFacts are reflections of realityFacts are conventional—our understanding of truth does

change, although truth itself does notContain no arguments, only accounts of others’ arguments;

contain no imaginative literature

Page 29: How to Read a Book Part II

Answer the four questions using the fifteen rulesWhat is the book about?

Pigeonhole: genreX-ray: theme, major parts, questions

What is being said in detail?Come to terms, identify propositions and arguments, see

which question are answeredIs it true?

Can I disagree with it, suspend judgment, or must I agree?What of it?

How do I respond?Remember: read a book intrinsically before reading it

extrinsically

Summary of Level Three: Analytical Reading

Page 30: How to Read a Book Part II

Adler, Mortimer J. and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book. New York: Touchstone, 1972. Print.

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