How to Read a Book (1940) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• Aristotle: This seems to be Mortimer's favorite character.
• Darwin: Second most talked about person in the book. Especially the Orgin of Species
• Shakespeare: Add a description of this character.
• Locke
• Aquinas
• Adam Smith
• Tolstoy
• Machiavelli
• Spinoza
• Montaigne
• Whitehead
• Marx
• Kant

Quotes edit see section history

• “We do not have to know everything about something in order to understand it; too many facts are often as much of an obstacle to understanding as too few. There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding.”

  Mortimer J. Adler

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• RULE 1. YOU MUST KNOW WHAT KIND OF BOOK YOU ARE READING, AND YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS AS EARLY IN THE PROCESS AS POSSIBLE, PREFERABLY BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO READ.

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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.

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• 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.

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• RULE 2. STATE THE UNITY OF THE WHOLE BOOK IN A SINGLE SENTENCE, OR AT MOST A FEW SENTENCES (A SHORT PARAGRAPH).

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• 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.

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• RULE 5. FIND THE IMPORTANT WORDS AND THROUGH THEM COME TO TERMS WITH THE AUTHOR.

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• To be informed is to know simply that something is the case. To be enlightened is to know, in addition, what it is all about: why it is the case, what its connections are with other facts, in what respects it is the same, in what respects it is different, and so forth.

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• RULE 4. FIND OUT WHAT THE AUTHOR’S PROBLEMS WERE.

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• 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.

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• We do not have to know everything about something in order to understand it; too many facts are often as much of an obstacle to understanding as too few. There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Syntopicon
• Euclid
• United States

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Managing Transitions.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Mortimer J. Adler (Author)
2. Charles Lincoln Van Doren (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: 92-60767
• Dewey: 370

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › History & Criticism › Criticism & Theory
• Books › Nonfiction › Education › Literacy
• Books › Reference › Words & Language › Linguistics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Books & Reading › Literacy
• Books › Nonfiction › Philosophy