How to Read a Book is a classic about reading that never fades. No matter when you read it, you can't help but marvel at the depth of the author's intention to read and the breadth of his vision. People who do not know how to read, people who are new to reading, reading this book can take a lot less wrongful road; people who have experienced reading can have a deeper confirmation and understanding when reading this book.
We will share the contents of this book in three phases:
The first issue: describes the basic requirements of reading through five parts: "The Vitality and Art of Reading", "The First Level of Reading: Basic Reading", "The Second Level of Reading: Examining Reading", and "How to Be a Self-Demanding Reader".
Issue 2: Deconstruct the third level of reading in detail through five parts: "Looking through a book", "Finding common meanings with the author", "Judging the author's main idea", "Judging a book impartially", and "Agreeing or Opposing the Author"— analytical reading.
Issue 3: Understanding the ultimate goal of reading through the descriptions of the three parts: "The Method of Reading Different Readings", "The Fourth Level of Reading: Thematic Reading", and "Reading and Mental Growth".
The dynamism and art of reading
It's a book written for people who read, or who want to be readers. To be more specific, this book is for those who want to think that the primary purpose of reading is to improve comprehension.
Modern people have a feeling that reading books is no longer as necessary as it used to be. Maybe we know more about the world than we did before, but too much information, like too little information, is a hindrance to understanding. In other words, the modern media is overwhelmingly flooding with information that hinders our comprehension.
※The goal of reading: to read for information and to seek comprehension
Reading for information is when we ourselves read newspapers, magazines, or other things, and with our reading skills and ingenuity, we can understand it all at once. Such readings can increase our information, but they cannot improve our comprehension.
Reading to gain comprehension is a person trying to read something that he didn't know much at first. The level of this thing is a little higher than that of the person reading it. What this author wants to express can improve the reader's comprehension.
Whether it's to get information or to understand, there's only one way to actually read. That is, without any external help, you just have to read a book. You have nothing, just rely on the strength of your heart, play with the words in front of you, and slowly improve yourself, from only vague concepts to clearer understanding. Such an improvement is a kind of mental activity when reading, and this kind of reading is to challenge a book to your existing understanding. The technique of operation that produces this result is the art of reading, which is composed of many different activities.
Of course, in addition to gaining information and understanding, reading has some other goals, that is, entertainment. We won't talk much about reading about entertainment here. That's the least demanding thing to do, and it doesn't take much effort. Anyone who can read and wants to read can find a book to entertain.
※Reading is learning
In the history of education, people have always distinguished guided learning from self-discovery learning. The self-discovery way of learning is the way without the guidance of the teacher, and the guided learning is to be helped by others. Either way, only active learners can learn.
One of the most fundamental differences between guided learning and self-discovery learning lies in the textbooks used by learners. When he is instructed—self-discovery with the help of a teacher—the learner's actions are grounded in the message conveyed to him. However, when learners begin to learn without any teacher guidance, learners act on the basis of nature or the world, rather than teaching. If we loosen the meaning of "reading" a little more loosely, we can say that self-discovery learning is the learning of reading the self or the world.
Students at school often follow the teacher or instructor to read more difficult books. But for those who are not in school, if we intend to continue to learn and discover, we need to know how to let the book teach us.
※ The level of reading
A reader's goal—for recreation, to gain information, or to improve comprehension—determines the way he reads. Generally speaking, the rule of reading is: the more effort you put in, the better the results. Beyond that, we can only really read it if we know how to read it.
Before you want to improve your reading skills, you must first understand the different levels of reading, there are four levels of reading.
Level 1: Basic Reading. As long as a person is proficient in reading at this level, he has gotten rid of the state of illiteracy and has at least begun to recognize words. In the process of proficiency at this level, a person can learn the basic art of reading, receive basic reading training, and acquire preliminary reading skills. This level of reading is usually done in elementary school.
The second level: inspection and reading. It is characterized by an emphasis on time. At this reading level, students must complete a reading lesson within a specified time. In other words, it is to be able to grasp the focus of a book within a certain period of time. At this level of reading, the goal is to observe the book from the surface and learn everything that the book's appearance teaches you. The deal is usually very good.
The third level: analytical reading. This is more complex and more systematic than the two types of reading mentioned earlier. Analytical reading is reading in its entirety, reading in its entirety, or reading in good quality—the best way you can read. If inspection reading is the best and most complete reading in a limited time, then analytical reading is the best and most complete reading in an infinite time.
An analytical reader is bound to ask many systematic questions about what he or she is reading. Analytical reading is always a focused activity. At this level of reading, the reader clings to a book until it becomes his own. Francis Bacon once said, "Some books can be tasted and stopped, some books are to be eaten alive, and only a few books are chewed and digested." "Analytical reading is about chewing and digesting a book.
The fourth level: thematic reading. This is the most complex and systematic of all readings. When doing thematic reading, the reader reads many books, rather than one book, and enumerates the correlations between these books, proposing a theme that all books address. But just the comparison between the lines in the book is not enough. With the help of the books he reads, the subject reader needs to be able to construct an analysis of a topic that may not have been mentioned in any book. Therefore, it is clear that thematic reading is the most active and labor-intensive kind of reading.
The first level of reading: basic reading
Children go through at least four distinct stages before they become proficient in reading.
The first stage is called the "reading preparation phase". Experts point out that this stage begins at birth and lasts until the age of six or seven. The reading preparation phase includes several different preparations for learning to read. Physical preparation, including good vision and hearing. Intellectual preparation is to have a minimum of cognitive skills so that the child can absorb and remember a word, and the letters that make up the word. Verbal preparation includes articulate and the ability to say some correct sentences.
In the second stage, children will learn to read simple reading materials, such as reading pictures and reading. At the end of first grade, you basically know three hundred to four hundred words. This period will introduce some basic skills, such as the use of words and sentences, the meaning of words and sentences, the pronunciation of words and sentences, and so on. By the end of this phase, elementary school students should be able to read simple books on their own and enjoy reading.
The third stage is characterized by the ability to quickly build words, using the method of "exposing" unfamiliar words from clues provided by the context. In addition, at this stage, children will learn different goals and different fields of reading, such as science, sociology, language arts, and so on. They learn that reading is something they can do on their own, outside of school—they can read for fun, satisfying their curiosity, or simply to "broaden their horizons."
Finally, the fourth stage is characterized by refining and refining the skills learned earlier. Most importantly, the student begins to be able to digest his reading experience—from one point of view made in one book to another, comparing the views made by different authors on the same subject. By this time, students will graduate from elementary or junior high school. This stage is sometimes referred to as eighth, ninth, or tenth grade literacy.
In some ways, the child is already a "mature" reader, he can read almost everything, but he is not sophisticated enough. In simple terms, his maturity is that he can go to high school classes. But not yet the "mature" reader described in the book.
In the years of basic education, there is usually a teacher who appears in the classroom to answer questions and eliminate problems that arise at this stage. Only when a child is proficient in the four stages of basic reading is he ready to move to a higher level of reading. Only when he can read on his own can he begin to learn on his own. Only in this way can he become a truly good reader.
The second level of reading: examination reading
There are two kinds of inspection and reading, which are originally two sides of the same coin, but for a beginner reader, it is best to distinguish the two into different steps and activities. Experienced readers have learned to use both steps at the same time, but for now, we will completely distinguish the two.
※ View Reading 1: Systematic skimming or rough reading
If you come across a book in a bookstore, you don't know if you want to read it or not, and you don't know if the book is worth reading analytically. What must be done at this time is to "skim" the entire book. The goal in your mind is to find out if this book is worth the extra time to read carefully. Second, even if you decide not to spend more time perceiving the book, skimming can tell you a lot about it.
The habit of skimming should not take much time. Here are some suggestions on how to do it:
(1) Read the title page first, and then if ordered, look at the preface first. Look at the past quickly. Pay particular attention to subtitles, or other relevant descriptions or purposes, or the special angle from which the author wrote the book.
(2) Study the table of contents pages and make a general understanding of the basic structure of the book. Surprisingly, unless the book was actually used, many people didn't even look at the table of contents page. In fact, many authors spend a lot of time authoring catalog pages.
(3) If the book has an index attached, it should also be reviewed, and most theory books will have an index. Take a quick look at the scope of the topics covered by the book, as well as the types and authors mentioned, and so on. If you find that one of the terms listed is important, at least look at the pages of text that reference the word. The passage you are reading is likely to be a bullet point (the key point of the book) or a new approach to the author's intentions and attitudes.
(4) The last step is to open the book, read a paragraph or two, and sometimes read several pages in a row, but not too much. Turn the book through this way, always looking for signals of the main arguments, paying attention to the basic pulse of the topic. Most importantly, don't overlook the last two or three pages, because most authors like to rearrange what they think is both new and important in the last few pages.
Now you've systematically skimmed a book. You have completed the examination reading of the first form. Now, in the space of a few minutes, or an hour at most, you know a lot about the book. In particular, you should know if the book contains content that you still want to dig into, and whether it is worth your time and effort.
※Inspection reading 2: Rough reading
Each of us has the experience of having high expectations of a difficult book, thinking that it will inspire us, only to struggle in vain. Naturally, we conclude that it was a mistake to read the book in the first place. But it's not a mistake, it's the wrong direction.
What is the right direction? The answer is an important and helpful reading rule, but it is often overlooked: the first time you face a difficult book, read it from beginning to end, and don't stop to inquire or think when you encounter something you don't understand.
Understanding after reading it from beginning to end can help you improve your comprehension later when you reread the first skipped part. Even if you don't re-read and half of what you know about a difficult book, it's better than not knowing anything at all.
※ A trick to improve reading speed
Many people will learn to read for many years after they have learned to read in a "half-voice" way. In addition, footage of the eyes taken at the time of activity shows young or untrained readers "lingering" in five or six places while reading a line. Worse still, after every two or three lines these unskilled readers have seen, their eyes naturally "rewind" to the origin—that is, they regress to the sentence and line they had previously read.
All of these habits are not only wasteful but also significantly slow down the speed of reading. Because our minds are different from our eyes, we don't need to "read" only one word or one sentence at a time. Our minds are an amazing tool to grasp a sentence or paragraph in a "glimpse."
We can use our hands to train our eyes and move faster and faster with the passages of the chapters. Move your fingers down the lines of words and force your eyes to follow the movements of your hands. Once your eyes can move with your hand, you will be able to read those words. Keep practicing, keep sharpening your hands, and by the time you realize it, you'll be two or three times faster than before.
After the speed of reading increases, we must consider improving our understanding of a book. The problem with speed reading is comprehension, in fact, you can't understand a book without a third-level analytical reading.
But before we get into discussion about analytical reading, we'll pause for a moment and think again about the nature of reading as an activity. To read well, an active, self-demanding reader has to take some action.
Be a self-demanding reader
We have said that reading is an activity that requires active participation. But we haven't yet made a brief statement about the core of active reading: you have to ask questions as you read. There are four main questions that must be asked about a book.
(1) What exactly is this book talking about? You must find a way to find the theme of the book, how the author develops this theme in turn, and how to gradually decompose the key topics of subordination from the core theme.
(2) What did the author say in detail, and how did he say it? You must find a way to identify the main ideas and arguments. These combine to form a special message that the author wants to convey.
(3) Does the book make sense? Does it all make sense, or does it make sense in part? Before you can judge whether the book makes sense, you must first understand what the whole book is saying.
(4) What does this book have to do with you? If this book gives you some information, be sure to ask what the meaning of the information is. Why would the author think it's important to know about it? Do you really need to know? If this book not only provides information, but also inspires you, it is all the more necessary to find other relevant and deeper meanings or suggestions to gain more inspiration.
At the heart of any level of reading that goes beyond basic reading is the one you're trying to ask questions (and then find out as much as possible). This is also the reason why there is a world of difference between a self-demanding reader and a reader who does not.
※ How to make a book truly your own
You buy a book, but the act of paying for it is just a prelude to actually owning the book. To truly own a book completely, you have to make it a part of yourself, and the best way to make you part of the book is to take notes.
Why is taking notes indispensable to reading? First, it will keep you awake – not just not sleepy, but very awake. Second, reading, if active, is a form of thinking, and thinking tends to be expressed in words—whether it is spoken or written. If a person says that he knows what he is thinking, but cannot say it, it is usually that he does not actually know what he is thinking. Third, writing down your thoughts will help you remember the author's thoughts.
Taking notes is actually expressing the difference or the same point of view between you and the author, which is also the highest respect that the author can pay.
In the next issue, we will focus on a more complex and systematic level of reading – analytical reading.
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