{"id":9211,"date":"2016-09-09T08:23:49","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T15:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=9211"},"modified":"2016-09-09T08:23:49","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T15:23:49","slug":"how-to-read-a-book-thoughts-and-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/how-to-read-a-book-thoughts-and-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Read a Book: Thoughts and Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10391902_199305000798_2963845_n\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The title How to Read a Book<\/strong><\/em> sounds like an instructional manual.\u00a0 And in many ways, it is.\u00a0 No, the book does not teach the alphabet, nor does it illustrate how to make letters into words.\u00a0 Punctuation is not discussed in detail.\u00a0 Yet, the book has a lot to say about the experience of reading, the value of books, and how to choose what to read. <\/span><\/p>\n

I was intrigued by the four levels of reading: elementary reading, inspectional reading, analytical reading<\/em>, and syntopical reading<\/em>. \u00a0Throughout these discussions, I realized that I had been required to utilize all four reading levels in my Masters work without properly identifying them.\u00a0 The highest level, the syntopical<\/em>, or comparative level of reading, lends itself to theological studies where works in archeology, history, semantics, philosophy, and sociology are extremely helpful in gaining a better understanding of an ancient theological writing\u2026such as The Bible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, as I reflect on How to Read a Book<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, it was not these levels of reading that stuck with me.\u00a0 I was most impressed with part three, \u201cApproaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter.\u201d This section included a comprehensive overview of the many forms and styles of writing.\u00a0 It is obvious that reading a scientific manual takes a different approach than reading poetry.\u00a0 Yet, reading a novel can have similarities to reading an autobiography. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this section, the chapter about historical writings and biographies brought up the greatest number of questions in my mind.\u00a0 Growing up in twentieth-century America, most everything I learned about the past came from my public school education in Tennessee and Mississippi.\u00a0 \u00a0As I was reading this chapter, some questions came to mind.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

I was born in Ohio, but moved to the South at a young age.\u00a0 I wonder if my education about the Civil War would have been different if I had never moved to Mississippi?\u00a0 Did the schools in Ohio use the same history books as the schools in Mississippi?<\/span><\/p>\n

I grew up during the Cold War. \u00a0In my high school, I learned a lot about Western History\u2014what happened in the U.S. and Europe.\u00a0 The only foreign languages that were taught were French and Spanish.\u00a0 Even in college, I learned virtually nothing about the history of Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, or the Middle East.\u00a0 \u00a0During my high school and college years, Russia and China were our greatest enemies. Therefore, I learned virtually nothing about them.\u00a0 The only exception was reading sections from Anna Karenina<\/strong><\/em> in my freshman literature class.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Only later in life did I discover the richness of the history of Eastern Europe and Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I read through this chapter, I realized how much history affects our worldview.\u00a0\u00a0 I grew up reading books in my school library about founding fathers and presidents that practically deified them.\u00a0 <\/span>Those with Native American heritage read and write historical books which portray Christopher Columbus and Andrew Jackson as monsters.\u00a0\u00a0 The history books that I have read do not give me pause in seeing Jackson\u2019s face on a twenty-dollar bill, or celebrating Columbus Day.\u00a0 Those who have read other historical works cringe at these things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adler clearly states \u201cit is possible that no kind of literature has a greater effect on the actions of men than history\u201d\u00a0 (Adler, p. 238). \u00a0\u00a0This chapter in How to Read a Book\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>touched on several questions that I have as I visit other countries and interact with other cultures.\u00a0 Reading a wide variety of historical works can be invaluable for missionaries and pastors who seek to connect with men and women from different backgrounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

What about you?\u00a0 How have historical books, biographies, and school textbooks affected your worldview?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading<\/em>, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972).<\/span><\/p>\n

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The title How to Read a Book sounds like an instructional manual.\u00a0 And in many ways, it is.\u00a0 No, the book does not teach the alphabet, nor does it illustrate how to make letters into words.\u00a0 Punctuation is not discussed in detail.\u00a0 Yet, the book has a lot to say about the experience of reading, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"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":[888],"class_list":["post-9211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp7-dminlgp7-cocanougher","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9211","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\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}