How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading (1972) is a nonfiction guidebook by educator-philosopher Mortimer J. Adler and editor Charles Van Doren. The work was originally written by Adler alone and published in 1940—but was heavily revised in 1972 by both Adler and Van Doren to reflect the educational and societal changes that had since taken place. The original version of the book was a nationwide bestseller for more than a year and continued to be widely circulated over the next three decades. The updated version is divided into four sections that detail what Adler and Van Doren describe as the four levels of reading. The main themes of How to Read a Book include active reading, reading genres, and reading instruction. The authors end their work with two appendixes: a lengthy recommended reading list and a set of exercises and tests to help readers.

Summary

Part 1 of How to Read a Book (“The Dimensions of Reading”) stresses the need for active reading and introduces the first two levels of reading: elementary reading and inspectional reading. Part 2 (“The Third Level of Reading: Analytical Reading”) covers different aspects of analytical reading, such as pigeonholing, x-raying, coming to terms with authors, criticizing books fairly, and using various reading aids. Part 3 (“Approaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter”) covers how to read specific types of books—such as imaginative literature in the form of novels, plays, and poems, and nonfiction books in the fields of history, science, mathematics, and philosophy. Part 4 (“The Ultimate Goals of Reading”) explains the fourth level of reading—syntopical reading—which comprises exploring multiple books on a particular topic.