How to read a book – Part II

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Levels of Reading:

There are four levels of reading, and these levels are cumulative i.e. higher level includes all the lower levels in herself.

The first level of reading is “Elementary Reading”. This is the first encounter anyone has with reading. The reader is merely concerned with language. The only question he tries to answer is, “What does the author say?” He is not concerned with what the author means, or why he says it. That he says it, he reads it. This reading can only take place when a person knows the language of the author; one is able to read steadily, without having to look for meaning of many words, and without stumbling over the grammar and syntax. You must be able to make sense of a majority of the sentences and paragraphs, although not necessarily the best sense of all of them. If you have a fair idea of what I have been trying to say till now, or that you haven’t already thrown the paper in the dustbin for the lack of understanding, congratulations you have already crossed this level of reading for this paper. The reason why I congratulate you is that there would be many who would not have been able to understand this much, not in one go to say the least.

The second level of reading is the true level of reading – Inspectional Reading. As said earlier, the levels of reading are cumulative, that is to say that inspectional reading already contains elementary reading. You cannot read at inspectional level if you cannot read at elementary level. This level of reading emphasizes more on time than on understanding itself; nevertheless it forms an important part of understanding the book. The question that the reader tries to answer is, “What is the book about?” The reader doesn’t understand the nuances of the book, however he has a fair idea of what the book is about once he finishes this reading. There are two types of inspectional reading. These are to be considered two separate steps or activities by a beginner. With experience a reader can do both the activities in one go.

The first step is that of “Systematic Skimming or Pre-reading”. Your aim here is to discover whether the book requires a reading at all or not or does it require a more careful reading. By the end of systematic skimming you would be able to know the authors main contention and what kind of book he has written. I have to inform you that skimming should take least amount of time, hardly an hour for a 400 page practical book. The steps are:

1. Look at the title page and preface. Read them together with the back cover and publisher’s note. Learn the scope of the book.
2. Study the table of contents in some depth to obtain the general sense of the book and its structure. This would be like a roadmap before you begin the trip.
3. Check the index of the book. See the range of topics covered, books and authors referred. Also read some passages from different sections that you find relevant to your study and important.
4. Look now for the chapter that you think is pivotal to the book’s main argument. Skim through such a chapter quickly. If it has a summary, read it.
5. Finally, turn the pages, dipping here and there, reading a paragraph or two, sometimes several pages in sequence, never more than that. Definitely read the last few pages or the epilogue.

The second step within inspectional reading is that of “Superficial Reading”. The rule is simply this: 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. Pay attention only to what you understand and ignore what you don’t. Don’t stop or Google or check the dictionary if you don’t understand a word or a concept. Just read cover to cover. This reading too has to be fast. It shouldn’t take much of your time.

Reading speed is an important aspect of inspectional reading. If you are a very slow reader, by now you would have lost the purpose or the will to do a second reading for which you have been preparing all along. With practice the speed does increase and skimming or superficial reading wouldn’t take time. Does speed reading compromise on comprehension? Yes, if the speed is too fast that you skip the words, otherwise the mind can grasp if only the eyes were to provide all the information. Hence, every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension. Two problems exist:

1. Eye fixation: The eye is blind while it moves; it can only see when it stops. The problem is that an untrained reader’s eyes stop i.e. fixate too often – five to six times in the course of each line that is read.
2. Regression: The eyes of an incompetent reader regress as often as once every two or three lines – that is, they return to phrases or sentences previously read.

These two problems slow down most of the readers. To fix this, place your thumb and first two fingers together. Sweep this “pointer” across the line, a little faster than it is comfortable for your eyes. Force yourself to keep up with your hand. Keep practicing this. The “pointer” (fingertip or otherwise) also helps you concentrate and hence improve comprehension. Following the pointer makes it harder to fall asleep, to daydream or to let your mind wander.

Most of the readings that any reader has taken, would have given him this level of comprehension which elementary or inspectional reading gives you. That is to say, that most of the books that our students and professors have set to read or have read, have given them the level of comprehension which falls to the level of an inspection. It is with this level of comprehension they come out of colleges or Universities taking for themselves all the professions available. Little wonder the state of affairs. A demanding reader asks a book four questions as and when he is reading and by the time he has finished he knows the answers precisely and accurately.

1. What is the book about as a whole? (This includes knowing the themes of the book)
2. What is being said in detail and how? (This includes knowing the main arguments)

By the time you have finished inspectional reading these two questions are answered. Most of the readers out there would know the answer to the first question. Not everyone would be able to answer the second question “precisely” and “accurately”. You can check for yourself and ask these questions about a book you have read. You would realize that the level of comprehension had been very low, even though you claim or are expected to have read the book.

3. Is the book true, in whole or in part? (You have to know what is being said before you decide. You should have good answers to first two questions, only then can this question be answered. You have to make up your mind on what the author is saying. Now you realize that most of us who make opinions or criticize books or ideals do so even when we are not able to answer the second question. Hence the wrong judgments!)
4. What of it? (This includes knowing the significance of what is being said. Why is it important to know what the author wants you to know? What further implications?)

The third and fourth questions are answered in the third and most important level of reading i.e. Analytical Reading. Most of us don’t read at this level, yet we claim to answer the last two questions. We will talk about Analytical Reading in the upcoming paragraphs in some detail. Note that the levels of reading are cumulative and analytical reading includes elementary and inspectional reading.

The first stage of analytical reading is finding what the book is about.

Rule 1: You must know what kind of book you are reading, and you should know this early in the process preferably before you even begin. It is not just knowing whether the book is fiction or non-fiction, it is knowing what themes are involved. For instance, many novels though a part of fiction deal with philosophy, psychology, politics, sociology etc. You would have followed rule one if you have done a genuine inspectional reading.

Rule 2: State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at the most few sentences. This is to describe the theme or the main point of the book. To give you an example, let us talk about Homer’s “Odyssey”. It is an elaborate story full of exciting adventures on land and sea, replete with episodes or all sorts and many complications of plot. What is the unity of the book? Aristotle in his “Poetics” summarizes “Odyssey” in a few sentences:

“A certain man is absent from home for many years; he is jealously watched by Poseidon, and left desolate. Meanwhile his home is in wretched plight; suitors are wasting his substance and plotting against his son. At length, tempest-tossed, he himself arrives; he makes certain persons acquainted with him; he attacks the suitors with his own hand, and is himself preserved while he destroys them.”

“This,” says Aristotle, “is the essence of the plot; the rest is episode.” Many good books contain a summary of this kind in the very beginning.

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. This draws attention to the complexity of the book. It means treating the parts as if they were subordinate wholes, each with a unity and complexity of its own. According to the second rule, we had to say: The whole book is about so and so and such and such. That done, we might obey the third rule by proceeding as follows: (1) The author accomplished this plan in five major parts, of which the first part is so and so, the second part is about such and such, the third part is about this, the fourth part is about that, and the fifth part about still another thing. (2) The first of these major parts is divided into three sections, of which the first considers X, the second considers Y, and the third considers Z. (3) In the first section of the first part, the author makes four points, of which the first is A, the second is B, the third is C and the fourth is D. And so on and so forth.

Rule 4: Find out what the author’s questions were. Author starts with a question and answers it in the book.

Having passed the first stage, you know the structure of the book and themes involved in a great detail. Now we come to the second stage of analytical reading.

Rule 1: Find the most important words and through them come in terms with the author.

Finding would simply deal with the language employed by the author while you unveil the key words, and coming in terms would mean dealing with the thought that lies behind, determining their meaning and how the author uses them. This is important because language in itself is a barrier to communication at times. If words had only one meaning, there would be little or no issues, but words have different meanings making it necessary to come in terms with the author.

The important terms are most of the times the themes of the paragraph and the chapter or the book. You will come to know the important terms only when you understand the paragraph or chapter. Also the words you fail to understand are important to you. They may be ordinary for others, but not so for you. Technical terms of a field are also important. Also, what might be an ordinary term for you may be a technical term for the author. You have to acquaint yourself with the meaning the author wants to convey e.g. the word “idea”, though an ordinary word is a technical term for a certain philosopher.

Rule 2: Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the prepositions they contain.

Proposition is a declaration, an expression of author’s judgment about something. He affirms something or denies something. Not all sentences are expressing a proposition; some sentences ask questions, propositions are answers to questions. Also, a single sentence (usually the compound ones) may contain more than one proposition.

Important sentences are those which require an effort for interpretation, you understand them just enough to know that there is more to understand. These are the sentences that you read much more slowly and carefully than the rest. These sentences may not be important for the author but for you they are. From the author’s point of view, the important sentences are the ones that express the judgments on which his whole argument rests. If you have marked the important words and terms, they should lead you to the important sentences. Important sentences must belong to the main argument of the book. They must either be premises or conclusions.

To discover the proposition in a sentence is to understand what the sentence is saying. Stating a proposition in one’s own words is the best way of knowing that you understand the proposition. You should be able to say the same thing as the author said in your own words. Translating and being able to state the same idea in another language is a proof of understanding. If you can’t translate it, you haven’t understood it. The translation doesn’t have to be a verbal replica of the original, it should be faithful to the thought alone, not the words.

Consider the following sentence: “Nothing acts except what is actual”. Do you understand what is being said? Many would claim that they understand the maxim, but can’t translate if asked. Seldom can anyone say that it means, for instance, that if something doesn’t exist, it cannot do a thing.

Rule 3: Find if you can the paragraphs in the 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 argument.

The argument-less paragraphs only mentioning evidence or examples should be run through quickly, while the arguments i.e. the propositions should be written on a paper or the paragraphs they exist is marked as 1, 2, 3, 4….. and the exact sentences containing the propositions underlined. This practice is very important. A badly constructed book, or a propaganda document often omit steps in an argument. Such omissions are often misleading, and may be intended to mislead. One of the most familiar tricks of the orator or the propagandist is to leave certain things unsaid, things that are highly relevant to the argument, but that might be challenged if they were made explicit.

Rule 4: Find out what the author’s solutions are. Determine which of his problems was he able to solve and which he wasn’t.

By now you can be reasonably sure you have understood the book. However a complete understanding of a book requires the final work of criticism, the work of judging. Till now you have been following the author, keeping your eyes and mind open and your mouth shut. From now onwards you are going to present yourself and argue with the author in the third and final state of reading of which the rules are as follows.

Click here for Part III