Book Review - How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- In today's video I provide a brief review of about Mortimer Adler's classic book, "How to Read a Book - the guide to intelligent reading". Enjoy! xx
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other channels:
video essay channel: / @nnennaspeaks
vlog channel: / @nnennavlogs
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The links below support independent bookstores in the US, UK and Canada. Links for Canadians support 'A Different Booklist', an independent black-owned bookstore located in Toronto.
Links for the US and UK go to bookshop.org, an online bookstore that allows you to buy books online while supporting independent bookshops. If you want to support a specific bookstore on bookshop.org, you can choose a specific bookstore on the website. I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases on bookshop.org. Thanks for the support!
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
US: bookshop.org/a/101468/9780671...
UK: uk.bookshop.org/a/13630/97806...
CA: adifferentbooklist.com/item/5...
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Links to my other videos on "How to Read a Book"
On inspectional reading: • I read 35 books in fou...
On syntopical reading and using the syntopicon: • Topical Reading -- The...
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other channels:
video essay channel: / @nnennaspeaks
vlog channel: / @nnennavlogs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The links below support independent bookstores in the US, UK and Canada. Links for Canadians support 'A Different Booklist', an independent black-owned bookstore located in Toronto.
Links for the US and UK go to bookshop.org, an online bookstore that allows you to buy books online while supporting independent bookshops. If you want to support a specific bookstore on bookshop.org, you can choose a specific bookstore on the website. I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases on bookshop.org. Thanks for the support!
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
US: bookshop.org/a/101468/9780671...
UK: uk.bookshop.org/a/13630/97806...
CA: adifferentbooklist.com/item/5...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
other channels:
video essay channel: / @nnennaspeaks
vlog channel: / @nnennavlogs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The links below support independent bookstores in the US, UK and Canada. Links for Canadians support 'A Different Booklist', an independent black-owned bookstore located in Toronto.
Links for the US and UK go to bookshop.org, an online bookstore that allows you to buy books online while supporting independent bookshops. If you want to support a specific bookstore on bookshop.org, you can choose a specific bookstore on the website. I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases on bookshop.org. Thanks for the support!
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
US: bookshop.org/a/101468/9780671...
UK: uk.bookshop.org/a/13630/97806...
CA: adifferentbooklist.com/item/5...
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Interview of Mortimer Adler by William F. Buckley on the Firing Line: • Firing Line with Willi...
Thank you for such a wonderfully informative review.
You are very welcome, I'm glad to hear you found it helpful!
I'm currently listening to Adler's 'How to Read a Book' after getting bogged down reading the print copy. I agree, listening is easier going, for sure! I went to Saint John's College, which he talks about the school in the first section of the book. Unfortunately, I had to quit school and want to go through the remaining two years of readings. I'm reading this book now to make up for not having teachers and other students to learn with. I never read Adler's book at school, but I can see how my tutors (professors) used Adler's methods in helping us students wrap our minds around the books and figure out what the authors were trying to say. Define terms, find the meat of the argument, does the author prove the point they are trying to make? The book is helping me understand what my tutors were doing so I can do the same thing for myself.
My main problem with Adler is his 'wordiness', as you say. He's trying to sound like Aristotle, but I think he would be better served to keep things shorter. That is, to write in a more modern, concise style for today's readers to help them bridge that gap to reading Classics. It's too bad, because his basic information is good, but his style is obtuse, getting in the way of his stated goal of helping 'the everyman and everywoman' educate themselves by reading the Great Books.
As a woman at Saint John's I got so frustrated with the dearth of female authors and author's of color on the reading list! I've made a point of reading women and minority writers to get a broader perspective. I'm very excited about your reading project!
Wow, I've always been so fascinated by the form of "classical" education Adler talks about in his book - looks like you actually experienced that first hand! If you don't mind me asking, how did you find a program like that? I'm very interested in teaching styles and I've been wanting to learn more about the system Adler proposes.
I completely agree with your comment about wordiness. In order to reach more people it's important to be accessible and I think it's a real flaw of Adler's work. I think for a teacher, being able to teach others well is just as important as being brilliant and knowledgeable.
That's so great you've made a real effort to add female authors and authors of colour to your reading. It's a shame we have to do the work ourselves to find those authors, but I've been finding it so, so worth the extra effort.
Thanks so much for the detailed and supportive comment!! xx
@@NnennaReads I had a friend on the track team in high school who ended up going to SJC and came back to visit the team and told me about the school, knowing I'd like it. It sounded like an ideal fit, so I went. I'd been part of a Junior Great Books after school program in Junior High School (see Gateway to the Great Books en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_to_the_Great_Books), so I knew a little about what the Great Books were before I went. I think the biggest downside to the Great Books education is that we were concerned ONLY with what the author said, not who the author was in cultural and historical context and not concerned at all with authors that weren't on the reading list. This made it difficult to get a feminist, POC and working class perspective. The best thing about the school were the amazing seminar discussions and realizing how different people read the exact same text and came to such interesting conclusions that I wouldn't have gotten to on my own.
Adler and the like ascribe to a 'perennial' approach to education. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_perennialism But, since I had to quit school I've taken up a bit of a DIY approach, myself.
Keep up the great work and keep us posted about what you're reading!
Link to SJC reading list www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/classes/seminar/santa-fe-undergraduate-readings/freshman-seminar-readings . I've found a list of great books list here www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/greatbks.html#contemp which includes a 'Non-Western Literature' section; www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grttabl4.html
Excellent review. I read the physical book and I agree it was at some points really dry reading.
Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found it a difficult read - Adler was brilliant but I much prefer listening to him talk as opposed to reading his writing
Fascinating - would really love to hear how you use the syntopicon(?) to construct your TBRs!
Will do!! Hoping to have that video out early next month!! Thanks so much for supporting my little channel - I know you also commented on my first video. It's very much appreciated!!
@@NnennaReads Thanks for making great videos!
Wonderful review! You mentioned in your first video that you are an aspiring writer as well - Francine Prose's How to Read Like a Writer and Matthew Salesses's Craft in the Real World (which is a lot about decolonizing fiction writing workshops) might be up your alley, too! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, thank you so much for these recommendations they look incredible! I honestly can't decide which one to read first. Salesses' book is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I am so excited to dig into these gems. And thanks for the support on both of my videos - I appreciate it so so much! :)
@@NnennaReads Excellent! I hope you find them worthwhile! I have very much enjoyed your videos; I hope you are having a blast diving in to UA-cam!
I would be interested to hear more about Adler's concept of syntopical reading, and also whether Adler applied his principles to both fiction and nonfiction. Put Adler's book on my post-ReadWhatIown challenge wish list
I would highly recommend it, I think you'll get a lot out of the book - I know I definitely did. I found the concept of syntopical reading absolutely fascinating so I'd be more than happy to make a video getting into that in further detail. And yes, he has a whole chapter about how to analytically read works of imaginative literature so I can also make another video about that. Thanks so much for watching!! :)