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Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
How to Read a Book
The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
Touchstone, 1972
What's inside?
This classic explains how to read books like a scholar for fun, info and depth – uh, make that amusement, enlightenment and edification.
Recommendation
According to the late professors Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, schools don’t teach the higher-level reading skills you need to engage with and enjoy both informational and enlightening literature. You also need such skills to tackle books you might at first think are beyond your understanding or energy. Those very books, the authors say, ultimately provide the most profound, lasting insights. This manual outlines a systematic approach to help you build and sustain new reading abilities. These skills will help you connect with the most difficult, complex or multi-level works. First published in 1940, this revised edition radiates an enjoyable, rare tweedy-professor ambiance. In keeping with the biases of an earlier era, every pronoun is “he” and the prime reading list from the European and American canon has only two women (Jane Austen and George Eliot). Anachronisms duly noted, this clear manual still will serve any reader pursuing personal growth and excellence. Executives, managers and entrepreneurs will especially benefit from increasing their reading comprehension and retention.
Summary
About the Authors
Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001) was a philosopher and a professor at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. Charles Van Doren (1926-2019) taught at Columbia University and the University of Connecticut and was assistant director of the Institute of Philosophical Research.
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