How to Read a Book: the classic guide to intelligent reading
by Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren
Rating: 5.0 / 5 · Read · Finished 2020-02-23
Meta-book describing a strategy for evaluating, summarizing and responding to (mainly non-fiction) books.
The strategy: Don’t read from cover to cover. Go through a loop where you get the most high level idea, evaluate, go deeper, evaluate, go deeper, etc. Start with title, then preface, table of contents, index, summary paragraphs, bits of critical chapters, a fast read of the whole thing, and finally slow readings of difficult/important parts. At every step, decide whether it’s worth continuing to read. Answer what it’s about, how is it structured, what are the arguments, do you agree, and why does it matter.
This is not the kind of reading you do as you go to bed! But it seems like good advice. Get to the good stuff right away, then keep going if you’re interested.