Inspectional reading allows us to look at the author’s blueprint and evaluate the merits of a deeper reading experience. Using these tools effectively can increase understanding.

We’ve been taught that skimming and superficial reading are bad for understanding. If you’re reading this website, you already know how to do this. This is the level of reading taught in our elementary schools. They are thought of as levels because you can’t move to a higher level without a firm understanding of the previous one - they are cumulative. While many people are proficient in reading for information and entertainment, few improve their ability to read for knowledge.īefore we can improve our reading skills, we need to understand the differences in the reading levels. If you’re reading for entertainment or information, you’re going to read a lot differently (and likely different material) than reading to increase understanding.

Reading the latest Danielle Steel novel is not the same as reading Plato. The goal of reading determines how you read. Mortimer Adler literally wrote the book on reading. By narrowing the gap between the author and yourself, you get smarter. You need to find writers who are more knowledgeable on a particular subject than yourself. Learning something insightful requires mental work. It is the highest respect you can pay him.” - Edgar Allen Poe “Marking a book is literally an experience of your differences or agreements with the author. It’s not going to give you an edge, make you better at your job, or allow you to avoid problems. But most people aren’t really learning anything new. It means you’re likely to parrot an opinion that isn’t yours as if you had done the work. That means you’re reading for information. And how you read makes a massive difference to knowledge accumulation.Ī lot of people confuse knowing the name of something with understanding. While great for exercising your memory, the regurgitation of facts without solid understanding and context gains you little in the real world.Ī useful heuristic: Anything easily digested is reading for information.Ĭonsider the newspaper, are you truly learning anything new? Do you consider the writer your superior when it comes to knowledge in the subject? Odds are probably not.

If you’re like most people, you probably haven’t given much thought to how you read. There is a difference between reading for understanding and reading for information. I bet you already know how to read a book. How You Read Matches Why You’re Reading.

Let’s hit the books and explore the following: As part of our series on reading, this guide dives into how to read a book using the classical framework provided by Mortimer Adler.īy the time you finish reading, you’ll have a framework for reading at different levels that you can apply right away.

How to read book mortimer adler