# Shortform-How to Read a Book  Author:: Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren ## Highlights > Create a table to keep track of different authors’ viewpoints. This will help you keep all your information in one place as you work through your bibliography. You > Literature reviews are similar to comparative reading projects in that the goal is to gain a wide understanding of what other thinkers have to say about a certain subject. Researchers conducting literature reviews often complete extra steps that Adler and Van Doren don’t mention in their discussion of comparative reading; however, these steps might be useful for comparative reading projects. For example:Define your inclusion criteria. Literature reviews have strict inclusion criteria to help determine which sources to use. For example, many literature reviews only pull sources from academic journals, not popular press books or even textbooks. > 7. Order the questions and issues to throw maximum light on the subject. > 6. Get a sense of the complexity of the issues. > 5. Develop a set of questions that each author provides answers to. > 3. Go through each book on your list and mark specific chapters or passages you intend to use. > 2. Inspect all of the books on your bibliography to decide which are relevant to your subject, and to better define the subject. > 1. Create a total bibliography of works that may be relevant to your subject. > The ultimate aim is to understand all the conflicting viewpoints relating to a subject. > Comparative reading aims to compare books and authors to one another, to model dialogues between authors that may not be in any one of the books. > Adler and Van Doren call this “syntopical reading.” “Syntopical” is a neologism Adler’s Encyclopedia Britannica team invented; for simplicity, we’ll call this type of reading “comparative” reading. > In Adler and Van Doren’s view, criticizing a book means to comment, “I agree,” “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.” > inspectional reading is a skimming of the book to understand its main points and its structure. It aims to gain the best understanding of the book in a limited time (the authors advise setting a target for 15 minutes to comprehend a 300-page book). > 4 Key Questions to Answer While You’re ReadingThe authors assert that if you read for comprehension, you will be able to answer four key questions about the book:What is the overall message or theme of the book?This should be a quick synopsis, not a detailed summary.How does the author’s argument unfold?What are the main principles and supporting evidence?Is the author’s argument valid?Provide evidence to support your opinions.What are the implications?If you agree with the author’s argument, how will you act on it? --- Title: Shortform-How to Read a Book Author: Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren Tags: readwise, books date: 2024-01-30 --- # Shortform-How to Read a Book  Author:: Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren ## AI-Generated Summary None ## Highlights > Create a table to keep track of different authors’ viewpoints. This will help you keep all your information in one place as you work through your bibliography. You > Literature reviews are similar to comparative reading projects in that the goal is to gain a wide understanding of what other thinkers have to say about a certain subject. Researchers conducting literature reviews often complete extra steps that Adler and Van Doren don’t mention in their discussion of comparative reading; however, these steps might be useful for comparative reading projects. For example:Define your inclusion criteria. Literature reviews have strict inclusion criteria to help determine which sources to use. For example, many literature reviews only pull sources from academic journals, not popular press books or even textbooks. > 7. Order the questions and issues to throw maximum light on the subject. > 6. Get a sense of the complexity of the issues. > 5. Develop a set of questions that each author provides answers to. > 3. Go through each book on your list and mark specific chapters or passages you intend to use. > 2. Inspect all of the books on your bibliography to decide which are relevant to your subject, and to better define the subject. > 1. Create a total bibliography of works that may be relevant to your subject. > The ultimate aim is to understand all the conflicting viewpoints relating to a subject. > Comparative reading aims to compare books and authors to one another, to model dialogues between authors that may not be in any one of the books. > Adler and Van Doren call this “syntopical reading.” “Syntopical” is a neologism Adler’s Encyclopedia Britannica team invented; for simplicity, we’ll call this type of reading “comparative” reading. > In Adler and Van Doren’s view, criticizing a book means to comment, “I agree,” “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.” > inspectional reading is a skimming of the book to understand its main points and its structure. It aims to gain the best understanding of the book in a limited time (the authors advise setting a target for 15 minutes to comprehend a 300-page book). > 4 Key Questions to Answer While You’re ReadingThe authors assert that if you read for comprehension, you will be able to answer four key questions about the book:What is the overall message or theme of the book?This should be a quick synopsis, not a detailed summary.How does the author’s argument unfold?What are the main principles and supporting evidence?Is the author’s argument valid?Provide evidence to support your opinions.What are the implications?If you agree with the author’s argument, how will you act on it?