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Great book by the way...but I thought that was a chapter in "How to Think about the Great Ideas?" Is that a separate book altogether??
How to Read a Book: The art of getting a liberal education, by Mortimer J. Adler, Simon and Schuster, 1940. I have a paperback 31st printing that originally cost $1.75.
I don't recall now, but it was likely an expansion of the chapter on the Great Ideas book that you mentioned. He was one of the architects of the Great Books series that I have been trying to collect over the years.
(I have a secret Fahrenheit 451 obsession--I seem to want to have a copy of every book ever published! You should see my house! Books on every flat surface....Just bought another 4 at the Borders going out of business sale. That was some serious restraint!)
I agree with itshim--one of the things that distinguished an advanced degree from an undergraduate degree is the fact that, at that level, you are expected to become an expert in your field. That means having a deep knowledge of the core topics as well as a broad knowledge of everything else.
Burning the midnight oil is expected in order to acquire that level of expertise. If necessary, drop the social life first, then the sleep. Or do something that requires training instead of education. There is a difference.
For those that have massive amounts of material to read, what approaches have you used to digest the reading material?
Surely line-by-line reading or reading all books like a novel can't be the idea, whether it's for school or whether it's at a job. (I'm not whining by the way, just observing that literally reading every book in depth can't be the most efficient way).
Curious what you guys have done.
FWIW, I'm in International Affairs.
Don't worry about a technique, otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy. Just get a mindset where there might actually be something interesting or useful in the reading, and just sit down and read the damn thing. If you're sick of reading it, stop, and if you're stopping too much, make sure you leave yourself enough time.
Once you start getting a lot of reading under your belt, you'll know what you can skip and what you can't. But I can't sit here and categorically tell you what to skip. That won't work.
Unfortunately it is...that's what makes grad school so different. The expectations are simply higher in every imaginable way. In undergrad you can get away with skimming, trimming and just reading cliff notes sometimes. In your field especially, knowing details and being able to explain your ideas with factual clarity is critical.
ditto!!! I am in grad school and I am always reading... it's a lot more than undergrad was, but I am very interested in my major so it's really not that bad, just time consuming. If I don't keep up with it, it's really hard to catch up so I try to do my reading regularly.
How to Read a Book: The art of getting a liberal education, by Mortimer J. Adler, Simon and Schuster, 1940. I have a paperback 31st printing that originally cost $1.75.
I don't recall now, but it was likely an expansion of the chapter on the Great Ideas book that you mentioned. He was one of the architects of the Great Books series that I have been trying to collect over the years.
(I have a secret Fahrenheit 451 obsession--I seem to want to have a copy of every book ever published! You should see my house! Books on every flat surface....Just bought another 4 at the Borders going out of business sale. That was some serious restraint!)
I agree with itshim--one of the things that distinguished an advanced degree from an undergraduate degree is the fact that, at that level, you are expected to become an expert in your field. That means having a deep knowledge of the core topics as well as a broad knowledge of everything else.
Burning the midnight oil is expected in order to acquire that level of expertise. If necessary, drop the social life first, then the sleep. Or do something that requires training instead of education. There is a difference.
Thanks for the reference. I will be buying this on amazon asap. Mortimer Adler IMO should be required reading at all colleges for incoming freshmen.
Again 'm not looking for a way to read less per se. I'm looking for effective ways to absorb more material--however the consensus seems to be to just read everything like a novel (i.e. read all pages of all articles and all books assigned within the required time frame).
Fair enough.
Given that consensus, my followup question is:
- With the idea that it is advisable to read all articles and all books assigned--by reading does one mean "studying extensively and taking notes and re-reading" (all the material) or does one just mean reading i.e. read it through once?
Again 'm not looking for a way to read less per se. I'm looking for effective ways to absorb more material--however the consensus seems to be to just read everything like a novel (i.e. read all pages of all articles and all books assigned within the required time frame).
Fair enough.
Given that consensus, my followup question is:
- With the idea that it is advisable to read all articles and all books assigned--by reading does one mean "studying extensively and taking notes and re-reading" (all the material) or does one just mean reading i.e. read it through once?
It depends on the relative importance of the assignment. I usually take study notes, with the book, chapter, page, etc. recorded in my notes in case I need to go back and reread. I stop and reflect on what I read. In Adler's book, Chapter 3--Reading is Learning, he says that it is not enough to learn what the author says. One must also consider what the author means. For this reason, reading to learn is very different from reading for amusement, which is what you do when you read a novel or an entertaining magazine article.
Many people use the Cornell note-taking system, in which you take notes and then ask reflective questions about the material.
A side note on the paradigm shift in reading media. Studies show that the brain processes information differently depending on whether one records one's thoughts in handwriting versus typing. The handwriting process apparently directs the brain to consider its output more deeply than typing. I don't know if this will change as more people begin typing their notes in class. Usually when something like this happens, something is lost while something else is gained. It will be interesting to see what happens when our daughter begins medical school. She will no longer be taking handwritten lecture notes. I think it's a bad idea, but she says that no one writes their notes in notebooks anymore because they are all online. An added layer of interest is that her undergraduate studies were primarily in neuroscience.
I have to read quite a bit at work and the time I invest depends on why I'm reading an article. If I'm going to a journal club meeting to watch a presentation I'll skim the article. If I'm going to present an article at journal club, then I'll take detailed notes as I go. If it's for research purposes and I'm blowing through several articles I'll skim until I find something interesting, then I'll read it line by line and highlight where necessary.
How do you differentiate skimming and reading fast?
I'm not being snide, I'm actually curious. And like I asked in my previous post is reading = understanding/studying? Perhaps it could be.
I define reading as actual reading in entirety. Skimming is glancing over and picking out what you think/hope are the important parts, but isn't particularly thorough.
I read thoroughly quickly, so I don't really need to skip over anything as a time-saving maneuver. I tend to absorb and retain more this way, which negates the need for a lot of extra study. I also have a very good memory.
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