These are all in the context of reading non-fiction in order to gain understanding.

Part 1: The Dimensions of Reading

Every book, no matter how difficult, contains interstitial material that can be and should be read quickly; and every good book also contains matter that is difficult and should be read very slowly.

Structural stage

Understand the structure and purpose of the book. Determine the basic topic and type of the book being read Distinguish between practical and theoretical books Find out what problems the author is trying to solve

Interpretive stage

Involves constructing the author’s arguments. Note and understand any special phrases and terms. Find and work to understand each proposition that the author advances, as well as the author’s support for those propositions.

Critical stage

Critique the book. Once you understand the author’s propositions and arguments, you will have been elevated to the author’s level of understanding. Judge books based off the soundness of their arguments. Do not disagree with an argument unless you can find fault in its reasoning, facts, or premises, though you are free to dislike it in any case.

Write notes at the margins

Part 2: Analytical Reading

3 types of knowledge:

  1. Practical knowledge: Though teachable, it cannot be truly mastered without experience
  2. Informational knowledge: Can be gained by once whose understanding equals the author’s
  3. Comprehension (insight) is best learned from the person first achieved said understanding

Formal education has failed to teach students the art of reading well. It falls upon individuals to cultivate these abilities in themselves.

I. The first stage of Analytical Reading: Rules for finding what a book is about

  1. Classify the book according to kind and subject matter
  2. State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity
  3. Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole
  4. Define the problem or problems the author has tried to solve

II. The second stage of analytical reading: Rules for Interpreting a book’s contents

  1. Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words
  2. Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with this most important sentences
  3. Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences
  4. Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and of the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve

III. The third stage of analytical reading: Rules for criticizing a book as a communication of knowledge

A. General maxims of intellectual etiquette

  1. Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book (Do not say you agree, disagree, or suspend judgement, until you can say “I understand”)
  2. Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously
  3. Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgement you make

B. Special criteria for points of criticism

  1. Show wherein the author is uninformed
  2. Show wherein the author is misinformed
  3. Show wherein the author is illogical
  4. Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete

Part 3: Approaches to different kinds of reading matter

Read the Great books. Read the books that influenced a given author prior to reading works by that author. Read stories quickly with total immersion.

How to read about current events; Ask:

  1. What does the author want to prove?
  2. Whom does he want to convince?
  3. What special knowledge does he assume?
  4. What special language does he use?
  5. Does he really know what he is talking about?

The most important thing to discover in reading any philosophical work is the question or questions it tries to answer. How the author answers these questions will be deeply affected by his controlling principles.

Part 4: The Ultimate Goals of Reading

The fourth level of reading is syntopical reading.

Syntopical Reading

I . Surveying the Field Preparatory to Syntopical Reading

  1. Create a tentative bibliography of your subject by recourse to library catalogues, advisors, and bibliographies in books.
  2. Inspect all of the books on the tentative bibliography to ascertain which are germane to your subject, and also to acquire a clearer idea of the subject. Note: These two steps are not, strictly speaking, chronologically distinct; that is, the two steps have an effect on each other, with the second, in particular, serving to modify the first.

II . Syntopical Reading of the Bibliography Amassed in Stage I

  1. Inspect the books already identified as relevant to your subject in Stage I in order to find the most relevant passages.
  2. Bring the authors to terms by constructing a neutral terminology of the subject that all, or the great majority, of the authors can be interpreted as employing, whether they actually employ the words or not.
  3. Establish a set of neutral propositions for all of the authors by framing a set of questions to which all or most of the authors can be interpreted as giving answers, whether they actually treat the questions explicitly or not.
  4. Define the issues, both major and minor ones, by ranging the opposing answers of authors to the various questions on one side of an issue or another. You should remember that an issue does not always exist explicitly between or among authors, but that it sometimes has to be constructed by interpretation of the authors’ views on matters that may not have been their primary concern.
  5. Analyze the discussion by ordering the questions and issues in such a way as to throw maximum light on the subject. More general issues should precede less general ones, and relations among issues should be clearly indicated. Note: Dialectical detachment or objectivity should, ideally, be maintained throughout. One way to insure this is always to accompany an interpretation of an author’s views on an issue with an actual quotation from his text.

At this stage, the reader broadens and deepens his/her knowledge on a given subject by reading several books on that subject.

Some of the philosophical benefits of reading include: It grows your mind and gives you a fuller experience as a conscious being.

“But there is no limit to the amount of growth and development that the mind can sustain. The mind does not stop growing at any particular age; only when the brain itself loses its vigor, in senescence, does the mind lose its power to increase in skill and understanding.”

The recommended reading list at the end of the book is also excellent.