By: Trisha Welstad on October 5, 2017
If I had to describe Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book in one word, I would say it is ‘thorough’. As helpful as Adler attempts to be in sharing the methods and insights on reading productively and for various purposes, much of the content is so thorough with illustrations and redundancy, I found myself…
By: Kristin Hamilton on October 5, 2017
I thought my 6th grade history teacher was way off base until this week. I have a very clear memory of Mr. Spence telling us that, even though we would learn that Greece and Rome were the center of civilization, Persia should really have that title. In all of my years studying and teaching history,…
By: Chip Stapleton on October 5, 2017
When I went on Amazon.com six or so weeks ago to buy my books for this semester, I did so mostly laser focused on the task at hand (finding the exact correct title for the lowest possible price). Because of this focus, I didn’t notice much else on that visit to the world’s largest book…
By: Jean Ollis on October 5, 2017
Welcome back to reality! It didn’t take long to have to readjust back to reading (or not), writing blogs, gathering research resources, and developing annotated bibliographies. My blissful two weeks of experiential learning is surely over – or at least that was my attitude as I began reading the book “How to Read a Book,…
By: Lynda Gittens on October 5, 2017
This book was similar to a potluck meal or even gumbo. Why do I say that? The author covers so many aspects of history that one could stumble over themselves trying to grasp each one. He covers cultures, trades, economics, technology, religion and more. Each chapter has a specific purpose presenting his view…
By: Jay Forseth on October 5, 2017
Of the 137 authors listed in the recommended reading list in Appendix A of “How To Read A Book” by Adler and Van Doren [1], I am embarrassed to say I have truly only read seven (7), and two of those were the Old Testament and New Testament! How could a educated guy who attended a private…
By: Stu Cocanougher on October 5, 2017
Growing up in the United States, my Tennessee public school education taught history like it began in the 1700s. Sure, there was Columbus, the Pilgrims, and some scuffle with the French; but the bulk of my education was focused on 1776 and beyond. I grew up during the Cold War. As I reflect on my…
By: Shawn Hart on October 5, 2017
First an apology for my long delay…the book finally arrived the day after I returned from South Africa. I must say however, that though I could have faked this report, after our visit south, I very much wanted to read it; I am not disappointed…well, not entirely at least. Early in the Welsh’s writings, he…
By: Mark Petersen on October 5, 2017
Mortimer Adler’s classic How to Read a Book arrived on my doorstep, and as it emerged from the bubble-wrapped envelope, I chuckled. This used edition had the look of a 1970s era hardback with the traditional font selection, oversized white space, and garish coloured dust jacket. Likewise, the stilted language of another generation transported me…
By: Jason Turbeville on October 5, 2017
I have read some pretty dry books in all my years of college, seminary and beyond. I remember one from an Old Testament survey class where the first chapter was entitled “An Introduction To Introductions”. It took me a week to read one chapter because of the dryness, and moribund nature of the book. I…
By: Greg on October 5, 2017
Where have you been all my life! I don’t know about the rest of you but while reading this book by Alder and Van Doren, I kept wondering if I had read this in college would it have made a difference in how I read books? There are times that I start a book and…
By: Jim Sabella on October 5, 2017
One cannot do justice, in a four-day reading period, to a book so influential and impactful, not to mention that it is 600 plus pages. Besides, I am not an historian, and so a review of his methodology would be less than accurate. However, I do wish to bring a modicum of connection to The…
By: Chris Pritchett on October 5, 2017
I remember my father recommending this book to me when I went to college, 20 years ago. I did not read it, then. I thought it was oddly titled to begin with, a play on words, to be sure, but logically impossible to be of any assistance. “If I needed to know how to read…
By: Mary Walker on October 5, 2017
It is easy to mold the past into a shape that we find convenient and accessible. But the ancient world was much more sophisticated and interlinked than we sometimes like to think. …A belt of towns formed a chain spanning Asia. … Together with increasing traffic connecting India with the Persian Gulf and the Red…
By: Katy Drage Lines on October 5, 2017
“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”—Hamilton, the musical After Alexander Hamilton’s death by duel with Aaron Burr, his wife, Eliza, spends the next fifty years cementing his legacy. She advocated for the building of the Washington Monument and founded the first private orphanage in New York City, in memory of her orphaned husband.…
By: Jennifer Williamson on October 5, 2017
As I read Adler’s How to Read a Book, I felt nervous that I wasn’t doing it right—as if the book might somehow know that I had not bothered to inspect its jacket cover or write in its margins. The truth is, I instinctively do much of what Adler recommends for the first three levels…
By: Dave Watermulder on October 5, 2017
I am sitting in Heathrow Airport in London, on a 30 hour return trip home from South Africa. There is a hustle and bustle around me as travelers hurry to their flights, do some shopping, sleep on the benches, or talk on their phones. My laptop is perched precariously on my lap, as I sit…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on October 4, 2017
Although Silk Threads is a historical account of the roads our world have carved from the last several centuries to current, there are some tragic realities that live on in our cultures today. Slavery Profits… Sadly, human trafficking is still a profitable commodity and in high demand. Whether it is the Muslim nation of yesteryears…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on October 4, 2017
The book, How to Read a Book by Adler and Doren, was especially helpful to me since it has been over twenty years since I have been in a formal learning or school environment. Refreshers on how to get what you need from a book in a short amount of time will come in…
By: Dan Kreiss on October 4, 2017
I wish I had read this book 20 years ago. I’m not sure why I never came across it but somehow I managed to complete an undergraduate and two masters degrees without actually knowing how to read, at least according to this text. I have always held books and their authors reverentially, probably more than…
