Questions I asked myself

What is the book about?

The book is a practical guide to reading, analyzing and judging books.

What problems were the authors trying to solve?

They wanted to show the reader how to read well (analytically) to get the most out of a book and to grow while reading. They want to alleviate frustrations regarding not understanding books, getting confused, being overwhelmed, misinterpreting a book.

What are the main arguments? Do I agree?

Their main arguments are that you get most out of a book if you read it analytically, which means following certain rules. These are not strict rules but should be followed more or less depending on the reading matter and goals of the reader. In that respect, I agree and would not follow the rules strictly. I think the authors have good arguments for why they should be followed. I found that they can be very useful for me. Thinking about them, I can now see why I might not have gotten that much out of the books I read in the past.

What did I learn?

I learned how to read books more actively, more thoroughly and with more awareness. I think I have increased my ability to translate what I learn from books into action.

Which facts, ideas or principles do I want to remember the most?

• skim a non-fiction book before reading to get a general idea
• use the pencil often, “The pencil then becomes the sign of your alertness while you read.”
• read stories quickly, with total immersion and with few sittings as possible in order to preserve unity and get the experience the author tried to convey
• • especially difficult stories, don’t look up words during the first reading!
• it is an essential part of reading to be perplexed and know it
• rephrase propositions to make sure you understood it
• don’t judge before you have understood the arguments/understood the protagonist
• a book can only help solve a problem, you have to do the necessary action!
• seek out difficult books in order to grow!

Which of my beliefs were challenged?

I was mainly inspired to think about things I had not thought about before.I am not sure if I agree with the statement, “Don’t look for terms, propositions, and arguments in imaginative literature.” In a sense, a storyteller is making arguments, like “This is how life is. This is how the world works.”

How did my life change by reading this book?

I think this book improved my life a lot, because now I think I will get a lot more out of the books I read.

What are three action items I learned that I need to implement as soon as possible?

• skim every new non-fiction book
• wait with my criticism until I have made sure I understand the author
• read fiction with as much immersion as possible

What else did I like about the book?

I really liked their dedication to rationality and intellectual growth. They said many things that I found very wise.

Which other books were mentioned or recommended?

• How to Read a Page by I. A. Richards

Classical books mentioned or recommended:

• Paradise Lost by Milton
• Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon
• Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Hamlet by Shakespeare
• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Books especially recommended:

• Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost (“five great epic poems”)
• tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes; plays of Shakespeare; Molière’s comedies (“deepest and richest insights men have ever expressed in words”)
• Life of Johnson by Boswell (“greatest of all biographies”, “continuously fascinating”)
• The Syntopicon (topical index of Great Books of the Western World)

What were the most memorable quotes?

• “When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.” –Pascal
• “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” –Francis Bacon
• “The student can read as fast as his mind will let him, not as slow as his eyes make him.”
• “Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.”
• “The reader tries to uncover the skeleton that the book conceals. The author starts with the skeleton and tries to cover it up. […] The flesh of a book is as much a part of it as the skeleton.”
• “From your point of view as a reader, therefore, the most important words are those that give you trouble.“
• “The reader who fails to ponder, or at least mark, the words he does not understand is headed for disaster.”
• “Most of us are addicted to non-active reading. The outstanding fault of the non-active or undemanding reader is his inattention to words, and his consequent failure to come to terms with the author.”
• “You will find that your comprehension of any book will be enormously increased if you only go to the trouble of finding its important words, identifying their shifting meanings, and coming to terms. Seldom does such a small change in habit have such a large effect.”
• “Don’t try to resist the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.”
• “Scientific objectivity is not the absence of initial bias. It is attained by frank confession of it.”
• “We too must be childish in our questions – and maturely wise in our replies.”
• “The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used.”
• “You must be able to say “I understand,” before you can say “I agree,” or “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.””

Short overview

The Rules of Analytical Reading

1. • First Stage: What is it about as a whole?

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

   • Second Stage: What is being said in detail, and how?

6. Find the important words (key words) and come to terms.
7. Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they contain.
8. Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
9. Find out what the author’s solutions are and which problems he failed to solve.

   • Third Stage: Is it true? What of it?

   • • General Maxims of Intellectual Etiquette

10. You must be able to say “I understand,” before you can say “I agree,” or “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.”
11. Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously (= because you want to disagree).
12. Respect the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion, by giving reasons for any critical judgment you make.

    • • Special Criteria for Points of Criticism

13. Show wherein the author is uninformed.
14. Show wherein the author is misinformed.
15. Show wherein the author is illogical.
16. Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete.

Summary of Syntopical Reading

• I. Surveying the Field. Preparatory to Syntopical Reading
• 1. Create a tentative bibliography of your subject by recourse to library catalogs, advisors, and bibliographies in books.
  2. Inspect all chosen books to determine which are relevant to your subject, and also to acquire a clearer idea of the subject.
  • • Note: 1 and 2 are not chronologically distinct but have an effect on each other.
• II. Syntopical Reading of the Bibliography Amassed in Stage I
• 1. Inspect the relevant books to find the most relevant passages.
  2. Bring the authors to terms by constructing a neutral terminology.
  3. Establish a set of neutral propositions for all of the authors by framing a set of questions.
  4. Define the issues by ranging the opposing answers of authors to the various questions on one side of an issue or another.
  5. Analyze the discussion by ordering the questions and issues. More general issues should precede less general ones, and relations among issues should be clearly indicated.
     • Note: Objectivity should be maintained throughout. Always accompany an interpretation of an author’s views on an issue with an actual quotation from his text.

Table of Contents (Long Overview)

Preface

• “When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.” – Pascal
• • variable-speed reading (adjusting speed to the text)
• Four levels of reading
• 1. elementary
  2. inspectional
  3. analytical
  4. syntopical

Part One – The dimensions of reading

1 – The activity and art of reading

• • understanding ideas vs. memorizing facts

• Active Reading

• • analogy: catching a ball (= catching the communication) – it’s active!

• The Goals of Reading: Reading for Information and Reading for Understanding

• • ideally, the author understands more than you (he is your better) and has something to teach you
  • reading for entertainment vs. reading for information vs. reading to understand more
  • • increasingly demanding, reading is active, it takes effort

• Reading as Learning: The Difference Between Learning by Instruction and Learning by Discovery

• • enlightenment: not only knowing what author says, but what he means and why he says it.
  • widely read does not mean well-read
  • discovery: reading nature / world; instruction: reading books (“aided discovery“)

• Present and Absent Teachers

• • “one must be skilled in the art of being taught.”

2 – The levels of reading

• goal determines the kind of reading
• levels of reading
• 1. elementary: “What does the sentence say?”
     • e.g. foreign language, primary school
  2. inspectional: “What is the book about?”
     • best reading with limited time
     • the art of skimming systematically
  3. analytical: understanding more
     • best reading with unlimited time
     • “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” -Francis Bacon
  4. syntopical: reading about a topic
     • comparing multiple books
     • sum of books is greater than the parts

3 – First level: elementary reading

• comparison of teaching methods: ABC method, phonic method, sight method

• Stages of Learning to Read

• 1. Reading readiness
     • preparation for learning to read (beginning at birth)
     • important not to start teaching reading to early
  2. Reading very simple materials
  3. Rapid progress
  4. Refinement and enhancement

• Stages and Levels

• Higher Levels of Reading and Higher Eduction

• • high schools and colleges often fail to teach how to read well

• Reading and the Democratic Ideal of Education

4 – Second level: inspectional reading

• making sense of a majority of the text

• Inspectional Reading I: Systematic Skimming or Pre-reading

• 1. Look at the title page and preface, read them quickly.
  2. Study the table of contents
  3. Check the index for range of topics and crucial terms
  4. Read the publisher’s blurb (often includes summary of main points)
  5. Look at the chapters that seem pivotal to the arguments
  6. Dip in here and there, read the last two or three pages

• Inspectional Reading II: Superficial Reading

• • “In tackling a difficult book for the first time, read it through without ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away.”
  • • pleasure of reading Shakespeare is spoiled by teachers forcing students to stop at every scene and look up words -> the students have not really read Shakespeare!
    • also with books like The Wealth of Nation: by trying to master the fine points, the big points might be missed

• On Reading Speeds

• • “vary your rate of reading in accordance with the nature and complexity of the material”

• Fixations and Regressions

• • bad habits (easy to remedy): sub-vocalizing, fixating one line many time, regressing to earlier text
  • “the student can read as fast as his mind will let him, not as slow as his eyes make him”

• The Problem of Comprehension

• • increasing reading rate can also increase concentration

• Summary of Inspectional Reading

• • “Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.”

5 – How to be a demanding reader

• The Essence of Active Reading: The Four Basic Questions a Reader Asks

• 1. What is the book about as a whole? (leading theme)
  2. What is being said in detail, and how? (main ideas, assertions, arguments)
  3. Is the book true, in whole or part? (make up your own mind)
  4. What of it? (significance, what else follows)

• How to Make a Book Your Own

• • write in it – “The pencil then becomes the sign of your alertness while you read.”
  • reading a book is a conversation between you and the author – “be willing to argue with the teacher, once [you] understand what the teacher is saying”
  • 1. Underlining
    2. Vertical lines at the margin
    3. Star, asterisk or other doodad on the margin (for most important statements)
    4. Numbers
    5. Numbers of other pages
    6. Circling of key words or phrases
    7. Writing in the margin (questions, reduce to simple statement)

• The Three Kinds of Note-making

• 1. structural
     • what kind of book?
     • what is is about as a whole?
     • how does the author develop his conception or understanding?
     • made on contents page or title page
  2. conceptual
     • truth and significance
  3. dialectical
     • about the shape of the discussion between different authors
     • made on a separate sheet of paper

• Forming the Habit of Reading

• • knowing -> doing (following rules) -> habits, skills

• From Many Rules to One Habit

• • reading (and skiing as analogy)
  • • learning a skill all over again (compared to elementary reading, walking)
    • long list of rules
    • • learn each separately
      • then forget as separate acts to put them all together to become more fluid
      • • “But in order to forget them as separate acts, you have to learn them first as separate acts.”

Part Two – Third level: Analytical reading

6 – Pigeonholing a book

• The Importance of Classifying Books

• • knowing what to expect
  • what method the author employs
  • what kind of instruction
  • how to read the book appropriately

• What You Can Learn from the Title of a Book

• • students sometimes get confused, even though the answer is in the title
  • • “The Origin of Species is about what the title says it is about”, not about human evolution! That’s The Descent of Man.
    • The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire starts with the high point of the Roman Empire, not the beginning!

• Practical vs. Theoretical Books

• • theoretical
  • • (pure) science
    • knowledge
    • knowing that
    • key word: is
  • practical
  • • technology
    • action
    • knowing how
    • guidebooks, ethics, economics
    • “Anyone who writes practically about anything not only tries to advise you but also tries to persuade you to follow this advice.”
    • key words: should, ought, good, bad, ends, means
  • the distinction is not always easy, sometimes the classification is counter-intuitive

• Kinds of Theoretical Books

• • history
  • • “History is chronotopic.” (chronos – time, topos – place)
  • science
  • philosophy
  • • “If a theoretical book emphasizes things that lie outside the scope of your normal, routine, daily experience, it is a scientific work. If not, it is philosophical.”

7 – X-raying a book

• every book “worth reading at all has a unity and an organization of parts
• Rules of analytical reading
• • Rule 2: State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence or at most a few sentences (a short paragraph).
  • • theme or main point
  • Rule 3: Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole.
  • • focus on complexity

• Of Plots and Plans: Stating the Unity of a Book

• • “there are only a small number of plots in the world” (e.g. boy meets girl etc.)
  • unity is often in the title or preface

• Mastering the Multiplicity: The Art of Outlining a Book

• The Reciprocal Arts of Reading and Writing

• • “The reader tries to uncover the skeleton that the book conceals. The author starts with the skeleton and tries to cover it up.”
  • “The flesh of a book is as much a part of it as the skeleton.” “It adds life”

• Discovering the Author’s Intentions

• • Rule 4: Find out what the author’s problems were.

• The First Stage of Analytical Reading

• 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 is trying to solve.

8 – Coming to terms with an author

• • “a term is the basic element of communicable knowledge”

• Words vs. Terms

  <- fascinating paragraphs

• • successful communication requires both parties to use words with the same meaning

• Finding the Key Words

• • “From your point of view as a reader, therefore, the most important words arethose that give you trouble.“

• Technical Words and Special Vocabularies

• • “You can spot them positively through having some acquaintance with the field, negatively by knowing what words must be technical, because they are not ordinary.“
  • “The reader who fails to ponder, or at least mark, the words he does not understand is headed for disaster.”
  • “Most of us are addicted to non-active reading. The outstanding fault of the non-active or undemanding reader is his inattention to words, and his consequent failure to come to terms with the author.”

• Finding the Meanings

  <- fascinating paragraphs (esp. last two pages)

• • often you can infer from context
  • a book that can give you new insights probably contains words you don’t understand
  • terms and words are both one-to-many relationships
  • “you will find that your comprehension of any book will be enormously increased if you only go to the trouble of finding its important words, identifying their shifting meanings, and coming to terms. Seldom does such a small change in habit have such a large effect.”

9 – Determining an author’s message

• “His propositions are nothing but expressions of personal opinion unless they are supported by reasons.”
• key words: because, if … then, since, therefore, it follows
• “You work down to propositions and arguments by dividing the book into its parts. You work up to arguments by seeing how they composed of propositions and ultimately of terms.”
• • book – parts – arguments – propositions – terms (-> outlining, <- interpretation)

• Sentences vs. Propositions

• • “Propositions are the answers to questions. They are declarations of knowledge or opinion.”
  • Rule 5: Find the important words and come to terms.
  • Rule 6: Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they contain.
  • Rule 7: Locate or construct the basic arguments in the book by finding them in the connection of sentences.

• Finding the Key Sentences

• • the sentences that require an effort of interpretation
  • “the heart of [the author’s] communication lies in the major affirmations and denials he is making, and the reasons he gives for doing.”
  • it is an essential part of reading to be perplexed and know it
  • most people “pause over the sentences that interest them rather than the ones that puzzle them.”

• Finding the Propositions

• • rephrase the proposition to make sure you understood it

• Finding the Arguments

• • Rule 7: Find if you can the paragraphs in a book that state its important arguments; but if the arguments are not thus expressed, your task is to construct them, by taking a sentence from this paragraph, and one from that, until you have gathered together the sequence of sentences that state the propositions that compose the arguments.
  • 1. find reasons given and conclusions
    2. differentiate between inductive (pointing to facts) and deductive (pointing to general statements) arguments
    3. differentiate between what the author assumes and what can be proved

• Finding the Solutions

• • Rule 8: Find out what the author’s solutions are.

• The Second Stage of Analytical Reading

• • Rule 5: Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words.
  • Rule 6: Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences.
  • Rule 7: Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
  • Rule 8: Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and as to the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve.

10 – Criticizing a book fairly

• reading = conversation with author, answering = engaging the mind
• respect for authors effort = having reasons for agreeing or disagreeing
• only criticize AFTER you have understood the author

• Teachability as a Virtue

• • the more critical, the more one can learn

• The Role of Rhetoric

• • you are responsible for your own position

• The Importance of Suspending Judgment

• • Rule 9: You must be able to say, with reasonable certainty, “I understand,” before you can say any of the following things: “I agree,” or “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.”
  • suspending judgment is also act of criticism
  • not understanding is criticism, after you have made sure the fault is in the book and not yourself

• The Importance of Avoiding Contentiousness

• • Rule 10: When you disagree, do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or contentiously (= because you want to disagree).
  • truth > friends (Aristotle)
  • purpose of argument: learn the truth

• On the Resolution of Disagreements

• • why we don’t agree
  • • misunderstanding
    • lack of knowledge
    • irrationality
  • agreements can be an occasion to teach or be taught
  • with relativism: communication does not increase knowledge, you cannot learn from discussions
  • Rule 11: Respect the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion, by giving reasons for any critical judgment you make.

11 – Agreeing or disagreeing with an author

• Prejudice and Judgment

• • good rules for an intellectual debate
  • 1. acknowledge the emotions you bring to the dispute
    2. make your own assumptions explicit
    3. attempt at impartiality

• Judging the Author’s Soundness

• • After “I understand but I disagree”, one can say to the author
  1. 1. “You are uninformed” (lacks knowledge)
     2. “You are misinformed” (contrary to facts)
     3. “You are illogical – your reasoning is not cogent” (committed fallacy)
     4. “Your analysis is incomplete“

• Judging the Author’s Completeness

• • has not solved all problems
  • has not made good use of his materials
  • did not see all implications and ramifications
  • failed to make relevant distinctions

• The Third Stage of Analytical Reading

• • Rule 12: Show wherein the author is uninformed.
  • Rule 13: Show wherein the author is misinformed.
  • Rule 14: Show wherein the author is illogical.
  • Rule 15: Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete.
  • “Of these last four, the first three are criteria for disagreement. Failing in all of these, you must agree, at least in part, although you may suspend judgment on the whole, in the light of the last point.”

12 – Aids to reading

• • try doing all by yourself before consulting other resources
  • then you will need less and less outside help
  • kinds of extrinsic aids:
  • 1. relevant experiences
    2. other books
    3. commentaries and abstracts
    4. reference books

• The Role of Relevant Experience

• • common knowledge needed for:
  • • novels, poetry
    • philosophy
  • special knowledge needed for:
  • • scientific works

• Other Books as Extrinsic Aids to Reading

• • books are best understood in context with other books
  • • great books are better understood in order (they are a conversation!)

• How to Use Commentaries and Abstracts

  (also plot digests)

• • use sparingly
  • try to be independent
  • good for jogging your memory

• How to Use Reference Books

  (e.g. dictionaries, encyclopedias)

• • It requires knowledge to use a reference book well:
  • 1. What do you want to know?
    2. Where can you find it out?
    3. How to use the particular work?
    4. Is the piece of information considered knowable by the authors?

• How to Use a Dictionary

• • looking up words
  • it “invites a playful reading. It challenges anyone to sit down with it in an idle moment.”
  • • “it contains a wealth of historical information, crystallized in the growth and development of language”
  • don’t look up too many words, you lose track of book’s unity and order
  • 1. Words are physical things (writable words and speakable sounds)
    2. Words are parts of speech
    3. Words are signs (multiple meanings)
    4. Words are conventional (man-made)
  • have a look at the explanatory notes and list of abbreviations

• How to Use an Encyclopedia

• • looking up facts
  • invites a playful reading
  • knowledge used to be ordered in relation to the seven liberal arts (now often alphabetically)
  • • trivium: grammar, rhetoric, logic; quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music
  • presents facts in relation to other facts
  • 1. Facts are propositions
    2. Facts are “true” propositions (it is generally agreed that they are true)
    3. Facts are reflections of reality
       • informational singulars (e.g. birthdate of Lincoln)
       • relatively unquestioned generalizations (e.g. atomic number of gold)
    4. Facts are to some extent conventional

Part Three – Different kinds of reading matter

13 – How to read practical books

• The Two Kinds of Practical Books

• • a book can only help solve a problem, you have to do the necessary action!
  • two kinds:
  • • primarily present rules
    • primarily concern principles that generate rules
  • science -> theory -> principles -> rules
  • def. rule: “it recommends something as worth doing to gain a certain end”
  • arguing for a rule:
  • • appeal to principles
    • showing how they work in concrete cases
  • “A rule of conduct is practically true” if
  • • it works AND
    • its working leads you to the right end
  • -> you might not agree with author’s ends!

• The Role of Persuasion

• • “What are the author’s objectives?”
  • “What means for achieving them is he proposing?”
  • -> best defense against propaganda is its recognition

• What Does Agreement Entail in the Case of a Practical Book?

• • “Find out what the author wants you to do”
  • “Find out how he proposes that you do this”
  • if he convinced you, the logical step is to ACT

14 – How to read imaginative literature

• • “imaginative literature is inherently much more difficult” -> “Beauty is harder to analyze than truth.”

• How Not to Read Imaginative Literature

• 1. Don’t try to resist the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.
     • they “try to communicate an experience itself” instead of knowledge
     • “The rules should clear away all that stops us from feeling as deeply as we possibly can.”
     • we learn from experience, books teach by creating experiences from which we can learn
  2. Don’t look for terms, propositions, and arguments in imaginative literature.
     • not sure if I agree!
     • The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature by Ayn Rand: art makes arguments about sense of life
  3. Don’t criticize fiction by the standards of truth and consistency that properly apply to communication of knowledge.

• General Rules for Reading Imaginative Literature

• • adapt general rules
  • 1. outlining
       1. classify
       2. unity = plot
       3. parts = details of characterization and incident
    2. interpretive rules
       1. elements = episodes, incidents, characters, thoughts, speeches, feelings, actions
       2. be “willing to befriend its characters“
       3. “follow them through their adventures”
    3. “don’t criticize imaginative writing until you fully appreciate what the author has tried to make you experience.”
  • rules should enable you to enrich your pleasure by knowing why you like it

15 – Suggestions for reading stories, plays, and poems

• How to Read Stories

• • “Read it quickly and with total immersion.” with few sittings as possible
  • suspend disbelief
  • “Do not disapprove of something a character does before you understand why he does it”
  • reading a story is like moving to a knew town, don’t give up until you befriends someone!
  • “be careful to distinguish those books that satisfy our own particular unconscious needs […] from those that satisfy the deep unconscious needs of almost everybody.”

• A Note About Epics

• • you can gain a lot from reading one of the “five great epic poems”: Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost
  • few gains if not read well!

• How to Read Plays

• • read puzzling passages out loud. “Read slowly, as if an audience were listening and with ‘expression’-that is, try to make the words meaningful”

• A Note About Tragedy

• • “deepest and richest insights men have ever expressed in words” in: tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes; plays of Shakespeare; Molière’s comedies
  • “the essence of tragedy is time, or rather the lack of it”

• How to Read Lyric Poetry

• • definition of poetry is hard
  • not as much work as you may think
  • 1. “read it through without stopping”
    2. “Read the poem through again – but read it out loud.”

16 – How to read history

• The Elusiveness of Historical Facts

• Theories of History

• • many views, not all rational
  • it’s necessary to read multiple accounts

• The Universal in History

• • history books may not be accurate, but some had effect on generations after them
  • 1. “If you can, read more than one history of an event or period that interests you.”
    2. Read also to “learn the way men act in all times and places, especially now.”

• Questions to Ask of a Historical Book

• • good historian must be both good storyteller and scientist

• How to Read Biography and Autobiography

• • definite: all sources gone through
  • authorized: often commissioned by family, access to exclusive sources, might be biased
  • ordinary: not that trustworthy, but often worthwhile reading
  • didactic: have moral purpose
  • autobiography: incentive to put themselves in a good light

• How to Read About Current Events

• • Who is writing the report?
  • finding out author’s filter:
  • 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?

• A Note on Digests

• • digests reduce to essential information
  • “the greater the condensation, the more important it is that we know something of the character of the condensor”
  • most difficult reading

17 – How to read science and mathematics

• • until end of 19th century most books written for lay audience

• Understanding the Scientific Enterprise

• • try to read scientific classics

• Suggestions for Reading Classical Scientific Books

• • “Scientific objectivity is not the absence of initial bias. It is attained by frank confession of it.”
  • improving language = improving science

• Facing the Problem of Mathematics

• • math is a language
  • math is beautiful

• Handling the Mathematics in Scientific Books

• • priority is on understanding the problem

• A Note on Popular Science

18 – How to read philosophy

• • like philosophers, “we too must be childish in our questions – and maturely wise in our replies.”

• The Questions Philosophers Ask

• • theoretical questions
  • • about being or existence
    • about change or becoming
  • normative questions
  • • the good life (individual)
    • a good society

• Modern Philosophy and the Great Tradition

• On Philosophical Method

• • “tests are based on common experience alone”

• On Philosophical Styles

• 1. philosophical dialogue (Plato)
  2. philosophical treatise or essay (Aristotle)
  3. meeting of objections =thomistic (Thomas Aquinas)
     • many advantages -> good idea for if I want to write a book
  4. systematization of philosophy (Descartes, Spinoza)
  5. aphoristic style (Nietzsche)
     • suggesting truths without defending them

• Hints for Reading Philosophy

• • look for controlling principles
  • • Plato: philosophical conversation is the most important activity
    • Aristotle’s Ethic: “happiness is the whole of the good, not the highest good”
    • Kant: the limitations of the mind
  • avoid commentaries: “The discovery you come to on your own will be much more valuable than someone else’s ideas.”
  • play devil’s advocate

• On Making Up Your Own Mind

• • you cannot depend on “experts”, you have to do the work yourself!

• A Note on Theology

• • natural theology
  • • branch of philosophy
    • causation endless or originating cause (Aristotle: “unmoved mover”)?
  • dogmatic theology
  • • starts with dogma, goes from there
    • difficult for non-believers

• How to Read “Canonical” Books

• • books who are considered special by a group of people, are read reverentially
  • • e.g. Bible and Koran, but also works of Marx, Freud, the infantry manual
    • also texts relevant to an exam
  • faithful reader reads without freedom
  • • there is only one interpretation
    • the text is true

19 – How to read social science

• What Is Social Science?

• The Apparent Ease of Reading Social Science

• • words seem familiar
  • we have strong opinions on the topics

• Difficulties of Reading Social Science

• • authors used to not define their terms

• Reading Social Science Literature

Part Four – The ultimate goals of reading

20 – Fourth level: Syntopical reading

• • while reading, the subject matter becomes clearer

• The Role of Inspection in Syntopical Reading

• • inspect all books before reading analytically

• The Five Steps in Syntopical Reading

• 1. Finding the relevant passages.
     • priority is on your purpose, not the books
  2. Bringing the authors to terms.
     • authors use different words, we have to translate
  3. Get the questions clear.
     • establish propositions
     • ask questions that shed light on the problem
  4. Defending the issues.
     • classify authors according to their view
  5. Analyzing the discussion.
     • truth is found in ordered discussion

• The Need for Objectivity

• • opinions have some portion of truth (rarely none or whole)
  • all opinions may be false
  • try to look at all sides and not take sides
  • constantly refer back to the text, carefully quote

• An Example of an Exercise in Syntopical Reading: The Idea of Progress

• The Syntopicon and How to Use It

• • a reference book pointing to relevant passages
  • 1. helps interpreting a passage, helps discover relevance
    2. improve reader’s interpretation of each passage by reading from different authors
    3. makes aware of multiple interpretations

• On the Principles That Underlie Syntopical Reading

• Summary of Syntopical Reading

• • • • • I. Surveying the Field. Preparatory to Syntopical Reading
    1. Create a tentative bibliography of your subject by recourse to library catalogs, advisors, and bibliographies in books.
    2. Inspect all books on the tentative bibliography to ascertain which are germane to your subject, and also to acquire a clearer idea of the subject.
    • • Note: 1 and 2 are not chronologically distinct but have an effect on each other.
      • • 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 author’s 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.

21 – Reading and the growth of the mind

• What Good Books Can Do for Us

• • seek out difficult books in order to grow!

• The Pyramid of Books

• • not all books are created equal
  • • 99% are only worth skimming
    • 1:10.000 worth one good reading
    • • You know by our own mental reaction: Your mind stretches but you feel that you will not changed more by the book in the future.
    • one in a million:
    • • after reading it: you have a sneaking suspicion that there is more, you cannot forget the book and keep thinking about it
      • on reading it again, the book seems to have grown with you
      • there is always more to be learned
      • seek out these books!

• The Life and Growth of the Mind

• • “The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used.”

Appendix A – Recommended reading list

• begin with those books that interests you most, for whatever reason
• see: Great Books of the Western World, Gateway to the Great Books

Appendix B – Exercises and tests

• Introductory

• I. Exercises and Tests at the First Level of Reading: Elementary Reading

• • John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

  • Test A: Questions about the biographical sketch of John Stuart Mill

  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

  • Test B: Questions about the biography of

    Sir Isaac Newton

• II. Exercises and Tests at the Second Level of Reading: Inspectional Reading

• • Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

  • Table of Contents of the Divine Comedy

  • Test C: First series of questions about the Divine Comedy of Dante

  • Test D: Further questions about Dante’s Divine Comedy

  • Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

  • Table of Contents of The Origin of Species

  • Test E: Questions about Darwin and

    The Origin of Species

  • Test F: Further questions about

    Darwin and

    The Origin of Species

• III. Exercises and Tests at the Third Level of Reading: Analytical Reading

• IV. Exercises and Tests at the Fourth Level of Reading: Syntopical Reading

• • From Book I of Aristotle’s Politics

  • • individual -> family -> village -> state
    • from my understanding: word “state” in Aristotle = larger society

  • From Book I of Rousseau’s The Social Contract

  • Test G: Here is the first set of questions about Aristotle and Rousseau

  • Test H: Here is the second set of questions

  • Answer to Questions

Index