How to Read a Book

The third level of reading we will call Analytical Reading. It is both a more complex and a more systematic activity than either of the two levels of reading discussed so far.

There are three quite different kinds of notes that you will make in your books as well as about them. Which kind you make depends upon the level at which you are reading.

The experienced reader learns to perform both steps simultaneously, but for the moment we will treat them as if they were quite distinct.

The answer is that you have to discover the meaning of a word you do not understand by using the meanings of all the other words in the context that you do understand.

Fixations and Regressions

The main point is that one word can be the vehicle for many terms, and one term can be expressed by many words.

RULE 5. FIND THE IMPORTANT WORDS AND THROUGH THEM COME TO TERMS WITH THE AUTHOR

You will recall that that first question is: What is the book about as a whole?

If you know the kinds of questions anyone can ask about anything, you will become adept in detecting an author’s problems. They can be formulated briefly: Does something exist? What kind of thing is it? What caused it to exist, or under what conditions can it exist, or why does it exist? What purpose does it serve? What are the consequences of its