How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler
How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler
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How to Read a Book
The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

Author: Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren

Narrator: Edward Holland

Unabridged: 15 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/12/2021

Synopsis

A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It’​s masterfully done.” —Farheed Zakaria

Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Audiences will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text.

Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy, and social science works.

About Mortimer J. Adler

Dr. Mortimer J. Adler was Chairman of the Board of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, Honorary Trustee of the Aspen Institute, and authored more than fifty books. He died in 2001.

About Charles Van Doren

Dr. Charles Van Doren earned advanced degrees in both literature and mathematics from Columbia University, where he later taught English and was the Assistant Director of the Institute for Philosophical Research. He also worked for Encyclopedia Britannica in Chicago.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nandakishore on October 04, 2012

How do you read a book? Look at the cover, probably glance at the blurb; run your eye down the table of contents, perhaps; possibly rifle through the book... then plunge right in into Chapter One. Right? Wrong! According to Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, the authors of How to Read a Book. Acco......more

Goodreads review by Tharindu on September 26, 2022

"A mind not agitated by good questions cannot appreciate the significance of even the best answers." Probably like the majority, I picked up this book because of the sheer curiosity the title sparkled in me when I first noticed it. I wasn't quite sure whether this was a book of academic nature, o......more

Goodreads review by Lisa of Troy on July 05, 2024

Have you ever read a book and immediately thought, “I have no idea what that was about?” That’s why I picked up this book, but it didn’t go beyond what I already know. Originally published in 1940 and updated in 1972, How to Read a Book is extremely dated. It also focused more on non-fiction work (whi......more

Goodreads review by Valeriu on October 31, 2023

Un manual de lectură care a avut un ecou imens. Americanii îl venerează și îl predau în școli și astăzi. Nu-mi explic de ce și nici nu vreau să-mi bat capul cu pasiunile lor. Mă îndoiesc, totuși, că bieții cititorii urmează întocmai toate cele 15 reguli de aur ale „lecturii analitice”. Principiul lu......more

Goodreads review by Roy on February 09, 2017

The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks. I had a lot of fun holding this book upside-down on the subway with a puzzled look on my face. For much of his remarkably long life, Mortimer Adler was the leading proponent of the ‘Great Book......more

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