Reading for understanding is when you read a book where the author has a greater understanding than you on a certain topic. It is a read which challenges you to learn and does not merely confirm preconceptions or common sense, page 23.
Distinguishes memory from enlightenment. States that memory is of no proper use if the information does not provide an understanding that can be understood in different contexts and with different connections, page 24
One must observe, and remember, and construct imaginatively what cannot be observed, page 27
The art of reading requires all the same skills as unaided discovery would insofar as keenness of observation, range of imagination and memory, page 27
Skimming or pre-reading is first sub level of inspectional reading, page 45.
Doing a skim of the book not only allows you to gain a meta understanding of a book’s structure, but it allows you to disconcert the gems of knowledge you wish to know from mere commonality, page 45
Some items for Skimming (page 45 onwards)
- study the title page
- study the table of contents
- check the index to get an indication on kinds of topics author touches on and their references
- check chapters that seem to be the main contributors to the authors argument. See if they contain summaries or conclusions at the start and ends of the chapter.
- turn the pages from start to finish, ocassionally dipping in and reading a few sentences or a paragraph.
Adler suggests doing a first quick reading of the book in question. Not stopping to ponder or conceptualise the author’s ideas. This will allow for a total rudimentary foundational understanding. In other words it prevents missing the fores through the trees, page 50-51
The speed in which you read a book should depend on the complexity of the material and its relevance, page 52
Every book contains interstitial material that should be read quickly and complex material that should be read slowly, page 53
Besides inspectional reading, Adler suggests beginning with a “superficial reading” In your first complete read of the book. To read it as fast as possible without attempting to grapple with the complex intricacies that may be presented in a given expository, page 57
An aspect of active reading is that you should ask yourself questions of the text as you read, page 59.
4 questions you should ask any book (pages 59-60):
- what is the book about as a whole?
- what is being said in detail and how? (Ideas, assertions and arguments)
- is the book true in whole or in part? Make up your own mind
- what of it? What is the significance of this book, what makes it stand out?
The four questions summarize the whole obligation of the reader for anything worth reading, page 60
These questions should be asked as you read and are the hallmark of a demanding reader, page 61
You should mark down and take notes on books, page 62
Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author, page 62
Create your own personal outline of the book to truly test your understanding, page 64
When taking notes on books, there are three kinds in which you’ll make (pages 65-65):
- Structural notes which is creating outlines and brief summaries of the main points of the book
- Conceptual notes in which you answer questions on the truth or significance of the book as a whole; and
- Dialectal notes are ones which are regarding the shape of the discussion by the author which is what allows for comparison between various authors’ arguments.
Know what kind of book you’re reading as early as possible. Classify it., page 72
Think about the kind of enlightenment you are meant to receive from the kind of expository work you’re consuming, page 73
A lot of this understanding can be gained from inspectional learning as described earlier, page 73