About the Book

The title of the book is not artsy-fartsy. ‘How to Read a Book’ perfectly describes what the book aims to achieve. It intends to introduce the reader to some very simple but useful *LIFE HACKS* for reading books. Then, the book does just that, competently.

From the first paragraph of the first chapter in the book :

This is a book for readers and for those who wish to become readers. Particularly, it is for readers of books. Even more particularly, it is for those whose main purpose in reading books is to gain increased understanding.

There are two editions of ‘How to Read a Book’. The first edition was published in 1940, and then the significantly revised second edition was published in 1972. It has to be mentioned, the differences between the two editions really are quite significant. I’ve read the revised 1972 edition.

How to read “How to Read a Book”

Assuming that you don’t know how to read a book yet, allow me to explain the proper way to read a book according to “How to Read a Book”

Level 1 : Skimming

1. Look at the title page and the ‘preface’
2. Study its ‘Table of Contents’
3. Glance at the ‘index’ at the end of the book
4. Read the publisher’s blurb
   • If you’re reading from a physical book, the blurb is usually on the back cover of the book
   • In case of e-books and such, the blurb is usually the description on the product page
5. Look at the chapters that seem the most important to you
6. Flip through the book reading a paragraph or two, even several pages in sequence but never more than that.

Level 2 : Inspectional Reading

1. Read through the book. It doesn’t matter how deeply you grasp all the concepts conveyed in this book at this stage. What’s important is that you read everything once.
2. Make notes, comments, references, mindmaps etc. along the way.

Note : This much is adequate for most books. Proceed to step 3 *IF* you believe that it is necessary

Level 3 : Analytical Reading

From the book:

Analytical reading is thorough reading, complete reading, or good reading-the best reading you can do. If inspectional reading is the best and most complete reading that is possible given a limited time, then analytical reading is the best and most complete reading that is possible given unlimited time.

The authors go into detailed descriptions of analytical reading. For more details, see Level 2.

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

There are many things to appreciate in this book. The second half primes the readers with useful ways to approach to different types of books such as ‘Literature’, ‘Philosophy’ or ‘History’, in order to make you a better and more demanding reader. And I find it very interesting, that a skills as fundamental and useful as these, not not a part of the academic curriculum in schools.

Contrary to popular beliefs, people read more than ever before. A good chunk of that reading is internet comments, text messages, blogs and articles etc. Given all that, in my experience, “How to Read a Book” is still very relevant. A lot of what is in the book applies to other forms of written media also. In essence, you can take away a lot from this book even if you’re not necessarily an avid reader. But the book might just change your mind.

In my opinion, the best way to approach “How to Read a Book” is as you would a text book, or even a reference book. However, approaching the book as a purely academic exercise rather than a practical guide is a completely wasteful.

tl;dr

Should you read : How to Read a Book ?

Up to you. :)

…I found it very useful and informative.