Book Review: “How to Read a Book”

by Elizabeth Weissberg
Authors: Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

How to Read a Book is a book that discusses exactly what its cover suggests it might–it contains a step by step description of how to read a book. It was assigned reading the summer before my senior year of high school, and although I read in ways in addition to those it suggests, it did make me a better active reader. This semester, the book has helped me with my teaching in two ways.

1) It’s what I used to prevent myself from reinventing the wheel–that is, in my English class, where we’re reading Brave New World, I taught my students some of its methods to use while they’re reading the novel.
2) It’s the book I recommend when a student in a class where I won’t be reading lit with them asks how to become a better reader.

There are a few drawbacks to the book.
1) It’s rather long.
2) It is perhaps overly focused on its step by step approach and begins to feel wearisomely meticulous and rule-heavy at points. At the same time, this is part of what makes it so useful–it’s really clear and leaves a strong impression as long as you can get through it.

Also, in the way many stodgy books are, it has its witty moments and can be quite funny at times.

The detailed table of contents is as good as any summary I could write here. The text of the book itself can be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27663860/Adler-Mortimer-J-Charles-Van-Doren-How-to-Read-a-Book-Rev-Upd-Ed-Schuster-1972