{"id":9170,"date":"2016-09-08T17:54:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T00:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=9170"},"modified":"2016-09-08T17:54:50","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T00:54:50","slug":"how-to-read-a-book-when-you-already-know-how-to-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/how-to-read-a-book-when-you-already-know-how-to-read\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Read a Book When You Already Know How to Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I saw that Adler\u2019s and Van Doren\u2019s How to Read a Book<\/em> was listed as part of our course reading, it brought to mind an encounter I had when I first read the book several years ago. While I was reading the book on a park bench, a man came up to me and said, \u201cThat\u2019s funny, you\u2019re reading a book on how to read a book. Don\u2019t you know how to read already?\u201d I chuckled and said, \u201cYes, I know how to read.\u201d However, as I read the book, I realized that there was a whole other level of reading of which I was not aware. On this read it became even more clear that there is “reading,” and then there is “reading to learn.” The latter is the level that Adler and Van Doren espouse in their book. They call it \u201cactive reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the authors, “active reading” is different from passive reading in its goal. The goal of “active reading” is not entertainment or even general knowledge, though both are a part of the equation. The goal of “active reading” is to guide the reader, \u201cto pass from understanding less to understanding more by [one\u2019s] own intellectual effort\u2026.\u201d (P. 8) How to Read a Book is the \u201chow to\u201d book for those who what to know how to read for the purpose of learning.<\/p>\n

One of the foundational premises of the book is that every book has a message. An active reader looks for the message of the book. They then proceed to seek out the authors supporting arguments and logical structure. This process leads the reader to the point where they must acknowledge either agreement or disagreement with the writer’s message. The reader should base the decision on the author’s argument, supporting structure and ultimate conclusion and not on emotion or feeling. In either case, the reader must act on the new knowledge. Without action, the process of active reading is not complete. The activity has some similarities to the process of determining authorial intent when studying the Scriptures.<\/p>\n

Throughout the 21 chapters, Adler and Van Doren delineate the necessary steps for active reading. At the very beginning of the book, the authors highlight what they consider to be the four levels of reading. The four levels are: Elementary Reading\u2014the basic ability to read with understanding; Inspectional Reading\u2014skimming the book for general content, order and structure; Analytical Reading\u2014deep reading for understanding the author’s intent; Synoptical Reading\u2014an analysis of reading across a whole spectrum of books, leading to a new way of understanding or a discovery that was not in any specific book. (P. 16-19) In the remainder of the book, the authors explain how to apply the attributes of the four reading levels to different classes of books, from novels, plays and poems, to history, science and mathematics. The authors acknowledge that the process is grueling but necessary\u2014\u201cthe more active reading is, the better it is.\u201d (P. 328)<\/p>\n

Though Adler and Van Doren do not specifically address a leadership application for their thesis, there is relevance none the less. For example, it is not a stretch to carry this simple quote over into the realm of organizational leadership. \u201cA good book, like a good house, is an orderly arrangement of parts.\u201d (P. 77) Like a good book and a good house, a good organization has structure and continuity that enables it to have a precise, logical and measured purpose. Additionally, the very premise of the book (active reading) lends itself to leadership application, especially in the realm of critical thinking. A good leader reads situations actively, quickly and accurately. They must be able to understand the message and arguments of the situation and formulate their structured plans and arguments based on that read. This then leads to a declaration that will convince and help people to move to action.<\/p>\n

To conclude, How to Read a Book<\/em> is an excellent book to begin the DMin course of study. The active reading technique and the book in general will serve as helpful resource and manual for the journey ahead and the many books to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I saw that Adler\u2019s and Van Doren\u2019s How to Read a Book was listed as part of our course reading, it brought to mind an encounter I had when I first read the book several years ago. While I was reading the book on a park bench, a man came up to me and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[660],"class_list":["post-9170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adler","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}