How to Read a Book #1

In which I discuss Mortimer Adler's classic guide to intelligent reading

Exploring the intersection of life and literature to answer the questions how do the books we read influence our lives and how do our life experiences influence the books we choose.

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“ If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot expect the book to give you any insight you do not already possess.” - Mortimer Adler

In November’s Reading Wrap-up I mentioned that I was reading How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Adler.

Tiffany Chu

shared in the comments that she was also reading and enjoying this classic. I promised to do a write-up on it once finished. Reading over the next few weeks revealed this book contains too much material to condense into a short newsletter. Hence, the birth of this first in a series exploring this work. Each month we will examine a chapter or two of this guide to reading.

Originally published in 1940, it was heavily revised and updated in 1972 with editor Charles Van Doren assisting. This revised edition is separated into four parts and a total of 21 chapters. Additionally, Adler provided a recommended reading list at the end of this book. While some of the material is dated, the guidance provided maintains its value. All quoted material is taken directly from the text.¹

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Part 1 - The Dimensions of Reading - Chapter 1 - The Activity and Art of Reading

Modern technology provides convenient and easy access to information. Many media sources claim to provide consumers with information necessary to decide for themselves about issues. Unfortunately, this is frequently pre-packaged for easy consumption and formatted as easily regurgitated opinions, no thought required.

Adler makes a clear distinction between factual knowledge and understanding. The antidote to these pre-packaged opinions is the critical thinker. Developed through active reading, this skill enables an individual to derive understanding from facts and information. All reading is active to varying degrees with the very best occurring when the reader “demands more of himself and of the text….”

Often seen as a passive activity, Adler makes clear that author and reader both play an active role. His analogy is that of a pitcher and catcher playing baseball, with the text taking on the role of the ball, passed between two active participants. The more skilled the catcher, the more types of pitches they can catch. “Similarly, the art of reading is the skill of catching every sort of communication as well as possible.”

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“Your success in reading is determined by the extent to which you receive everything the writer intended to communicate.” - Mortimer Adler

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Readers may come to a text for a variety of reasons including entertainment and finding information, both of which have their purpose. This book does not spend much time on these, choosing rather to focus on the art of reading.

Adler defines the art of reading as “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.”

Stated plainly - this is work. It requires both a desire and ability to get out of our comfort zone, dig into the material, actively engage with it, and pull understanding from it piece by piece. Good writing deserves this level of attention and demands it of the reader.

For active reading to take place there must first exist an “inequality in understanding” between the author and the reader. The author must have written at a higher level of understanding and in such a manner that their insight may be transmitted to the reader. Secondly, as readers we must find a way to “overcome this inequality” in understanding. The author becomes the teacher and we the student. In this way we develop the art of reading good books and improving understanding.

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“Enlightenment is achieved only when, in addition to knowing what an author says, you know what he means and why he says it.” - Mortimer Adler

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Learning can take place in many ways. In school we are often taught information. Dates, names, mathematical formulas, etc…this results in being informed about a topic. Enlightenment or understanding is seeing how the information is connected to other points of data, how those connections impact each other and the world around us, and being able to communicate all of those things to others.

Critical thinking is an important step in active reading but it is not the only part of the process. The active reader must have “keenness of observation, readily available memory, range of imagination, and, of course, an intellect trained in analysis and reflection.”

Unlike classroom learning where we may ask questions of the teacher, reading for understanding requires us to answer the questions ourselves. This only occurs when we “make books teach us well.” This is the heart of life-long learning.

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What are your thoughts on this first section of Adler’s classic? Have you been a passive or engaged reader in the past? Do you agree with him or have an opposing viewpoint? I would love to know your thoughts in the comments as we critically examine this text. Until next time…

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This past week I enjoyed reading:

• Ted Gioia
  has an exceptional article on his Lifetime Reading Plan. It is a must read for all serious readers and proponents of life-long self-education.

• Susan Cain
  , author of Quiet, is on Substack! Check out one of her recent articles about living a truly quiet life.

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1. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren. Published 1972 by Simon & Schuster.