When was the last time you read a book for pleasure? How many books have you read in the last year? If the answers to these questions frustrate you, don't be upset; most likely, you just haven't looked into this issue.
We'll give you 10 book reading tips to help you catch up.
1. Read only books you like
If you need to read a book on a specific topic for work, you can always choose the easiest to read from the available selection. Then reading will be pleasant and useful.
2. Make time to read
If you wait for the moment “when the time is right,” you will never start reading. You can read on public transport, but, as a rule, the bustle of the metropolis makes it difficult to concentrate on the material you are reading.
Set aside specific times to read books. It's best to have a calm atmosphere where you can relax and enjoy reading.
For example, in the evening at home, stop reading statuses on social networks and devote the evening to reading a book. A good book will bring you much more benefit than absorbing information from the Internet or TV.
3. Don't get distracted while reading
Reading is a complex process of obtaining and assimilating information. If it is important for you to get the maximum knowledge and new thoughts from a book, focus on the reading process and do not be distracted by extraneous thoughts and activities.
4. Reading is a sport
Reading is not just a process of obtaining information. While reading, your brain is much more active than when watching movies. After all, everything is already shown in the cinema, all that remains is to watch. And in the process of reading, the brain constantly constructs and visualizes new pictures and worlds.
Due to such active work, more knowledge, thoughts and ideas remain after the book. Reading is a sport for the mind that develops a person’s personality.
And the more you read, the more hooked you become on the sport.
5. Make reading a habit
A habit is an established way of behavior, the implementation of which in a certain situation acquires the character of a need for an individual.
Reading is one of the best habits a person can have. The more you read, the more you will be.
6. Find your book guru
We all need teachers who help us avoid mistakes and move forward.
In reading, you also need a guru who will be on the same wavelength with you and will supply you with interesting and correct books. In addition, it will help you better understand the meaning of what you read.
7. Master speed reading
Speed reading is not only the process of reading quickly. First of all, this skill is aimed at better assimilation and understanding of the material. And then on the speed of his perception.
8. Read one book at a time
The more books you read at the same time, the less your attention is focused on each book individually. So it becomes reading for reading's sake.
Reading one book will allow you to focus on it as much as possible and move on to a new one in a short time.
9. Read with a notepad
If you are reading a serious book, that is, doing analytical reading, you need a notebook. Write down the main ideas, theses and quotes.
The moments recorded in a notebook will be best remembered in memory, and thanks to them, additional information will be stored. Looking at your notebook later, you will be able to remember all the necessary details.
10. Mix styles
Try to change the styles of the books you read, otherwise you will quickly get bored with reading. After reading a serious book, choose something light.
As in studies, after mathematics there should be literature, then physics, and then biology.
P.S.
A little advice
To fully immerse yourself in a book, ask yourself what new knowledge this book can give you and how it will help you in life. By answering these questions, you will understand that the book is your path to new opportunities!
Don't put off reading!
Some books are easy enough to try, others you want to swallow in one fell swoop, and there are those that take a long time to chew and digest.
Francis Bacon
- Open the book.
- Read the words.
- Close the book.
- Take the next book.
What could be simpler, right?
Yes, indeed, if you read just for fun, just to kill time, then this is pretty much what happens. But if you want to take something useful out of this lesson, you want to gain knowledge and new experience, then everything is not so simple. And that's why.
In 1940, Mortimer Adler wrote a work entitled “How to read books. A Guide to Reading Great Works", which is now considered a classic. Today we will try to very briefly get acquainted with some of its provisions, expressed about 75 years ago, but which do not lose their relevance in our time.
This study revealed that there are as many as four different ways of reading.
- Elementary. This is exactly what is meant by this word. This is a skill we learn in elementary school, and it just means that we can read words on a page and understand their meaning, and follow the main story, but nothing more.
- Inspection. This is reading with a glance, what we call “across the sheet.” We look at the beginning of the page, then move to the end, along the way trying to catch the main key points and understand the flow of the author’s thoughts. This often has to be done when there is a need to master large educational or work materials under time pressure.
- Analytical. This is when you really immerse yourself in the text. You read slowly and carefully, you take notes, you look up words you don't understand, and you follow the links the author provides. Your main task in this case is to fully understand and assimilate the ideas presented in the text.
- Research. Mainly used by writers, scientists and creative workers. At the same time, you read several books on the same topic at the same time in search of confirmation or refutation of your own theories on this issue. This is a rather specific way of reading, which is associated more with work than with hobby or pleasure.
Next, we will take a closer look at the second and third types of reading as the most relevant and useful skills. Because elementary reading is probably already familiar to you, since you are reading these lines, and research reading is a rather specific type of activity that will interest few. With analytical and inspection reading, the picture is completely different: many people need it, but not all people have it. So, what do you need to do to take your reading skill from elementary to the next level?
Inspection Reading
As mentioned above, this type of reading is applicable in a number of situations. For example, in a store you need to quickly assess the feasibility of purchasing a particular book, quickly understand the essence of a voluminous report, keep abreast of the latest events in your area of interest, and so on. In any case, you will not be required to deeply immerse yourself in the text, but to quickly capture and evaluate the information you need. To do this you need to do the following.
Read the title and examine the front and back covers of the book
This advice seems obvious, but many people neglect it, immediately moving on to the content. But everyone knows that the author always attaches great importance to the title and cover design, often investing in them the main meaning (or a hint of it) of the entire book. If you manage to guess this message, then much will become clear even before the first lines of the text.
Pay special attention to the first few pages
This is especially true for business and popular science literature. Here you can immediately go to the ending to find out the main conclusions, and only then, if they interest you, begin to get acquainted with their proof.
Read reviews
If you are choosing a book on the Internet, then it will not be difficult for you to get acquainted with the opinions of other readers. Although these comments should be taken with a certain amount of skepticism, since sometimes they are dictated by selfish motives to increase sales or, conversely, to “drown” the author. But you can still find book sites that publish reviews from real people.
Thus, by following these simple steps, you can easily form a preliminary opinion about almost any book. This skill will help you literally in 5-10 minutes choose really worthwhile materials and cut off unnecessary ballast, which will save you whole years of life.
Analytical reading
It should be noted that not every book is worthy of being read in this way. This type of reading should only be used when you really want to get the most out of your reading. If you do not know how to use the analytical method of reading, no book - even the most useful and necessary - will be able to give you everything that the author intended in it. Let's look at how to get the most out of what we read.
Find out a little more about the author and his other works
Simply making inquiries about the identity of the author can greatly clarify the motives and characteristics of his work. Agree that a book about ways to achieve financial success will be much more credible if it was written by a practicing entrepreneur rather than a bankrupt loser. Or, for example, a novel about war will be read completely differently if the author’s biography contains corresponding episodes.
Spend a few minutes doing some inspection reading.
Before diving into the depths of the text, take some time for the brief preview described in the previous section. Do not miss the opportunity to gain information from the analysis of the title, content, preface, and so on.
Return to difficult moments
Read the entire book to the end, but try not to drag out the process too much. Adler calls this “surface reading,” that is, one during which you become familiar with the content of the book without going into too much detail. This means that if you encounter a difficult or unclear passage, do not immediately try to figure it out, but simply make a note and continue reading. When you finish the book, you need to return to your bookmarks and pay maximum attention to all controversial and incomprehensible points. Involve additional sources, re-read some places again, but as a result you should not have any dark places in the material you are studying.
Prepare a short resume
After finishing the book (and analytical reading is just that, work), write a short report reflecting your main impressions and knowledge gained. It's best if you write it in the form of answers to the following simple questions. Ideally, you do this in writing.
- What is this book about? Sometimes we become so immersed in the intricacies of the plot or insignificant details that by the end of the story we completely forget about the author’s main idea. Just state the main meaning of the work in a few sentences.
- What happened and why? Create a very brief outline of the book. For fiction, this can be the chain of events of the main plot, for popular science - the main theses and proof of the author's concept.
- Are the events, facts and opinions described in the book interesting, true, and instructive? What is your attitude towards what you read? Do you agree with the author's opinion or do you think it is wrong?
- What conclusions did you draw from what you read for yourself? Books are a powerful tool for changing yourself and your attitude towards the world. If we approach this issue to the maximum, then we can say that if the book you read gave you absolutely nothing, then you simply wasted your time. So try to capture in this answer everything that you were able to extract from this book for your development.
Yes, such a meticulous approach to reading does not contribute to the rapid absorption of literature and may probably seem too tedious. But you can definitely be sure that every book in your life will leave its mark and you will get the most from every hour spent with a book in your hands.
Can we read? For some, this question may seem strange. But if you think about it, the ability to put letters into words, and words into sentences, is not the ability to read. Speed reading and rational reading are also just technical tools.
Reading quality is the most important skill.
But how to read well? This also needs to be learned, and in this review I have selected literature that provides this knowledge. First of all, this will concern reading works of fiction, but some books also relate to the development of skills in specialized literature.
So, let's begin.
Povarnin, Sergei Innokentievich (1870-1952) - Russian philosopher, logician.
The book was published in 1924, republished by the Kniga publishing house in 1971 and several more times in subsequent years.
“How do we usually read books? So, “as it reads.” As our mood, our mental properties, established skills, and external circumstances suggest. It seems to us that we read well.
Meanwhile, this is mostly a mistake.”
The author explains in 4 parts of his book what this mistake is and how to read it.
Mortimer Adler (1902 - 2001) - American philosopher, teacher and popularizer.
The book was first published in 1940; re-published in the same form, but with a new preface, in 1966, followed by a revised edition in 1972. To this day, it remains a classic work on the psychology of reading.
“A man who reads a lot but poorly deserves pity rather than praise for wasting his time and effort so ineptly.”
“We can and should only learn from those who are intellectually superior to us.”
The main part is devoted to the ability to read and understand scientific, philosophical, and specialized literature, but there is a chapter dedicated to fiction.
It is impossible to retell the 344 pages of the book in this review. I can only say that this book at one time made me radically change my approaches to reading.
“If they say, my son, my daughter, young people don’t like to read, don’t blame TV, modernity, or school for this.” “Who? “You ask, and most importantly, what should be done in this case?”
In his book Like a Novel, Daniel Pennac shares techniques that are as simple as they are effective. The author shows the reader how to give the love of reading.
This book is worth reading for all parents who are already desperate to introduce their children to books.
A wonderful book about how to read and how to make even those who consider themselves unable to read start reading and love reading.
“Don’t get your hopes up!” - say two European intellectuals, participants in a witty dialogue set out in the book. Umberto Eco is a famous Italian writer, medievalist and semiotician. Jean-Claude Carriere is a famous French novelist, historian, screenwriter, actor, patriarch of French cinema,
Both have a passion for books: old and new, popular and rare, smart and stupid. And they defend the object of their passion, using all their erudition and wit.
To what extent does the reader participate in the creation of the book, and its author in the creation of the reader himself? Umberto Eco's book talks about this, the title of which speaks for itself.
Eco uses very complex terminology, but to make reading easier, the publisher provides a small glossary of basic terms at the end of the book.
The book, written in 1929 by a bibliologist and bibliographer, is a brief introduction to bibliological psychology. Nikolai Rubakin emphasized in his work that the book must certainly be clear and intelligible, accessible to perception and understanding. He has an idea of astonishing depth: since there is no perception, there is no content; “Without understanding this, authors waste 9/10 of their effort, labor and time.”
The greatest German prose writer of the 20th century, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Hermann Hesse is known in Russia primarily as the author of Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, and The Glass Bead Game.
This book contains critical essays by the classic on world literature, on the fate of books and spiritual values in the 20th century. They are dedicated to the works of writers and philosophers from Germany, Austria, France, England, Russia, as well as Spain and China.
Henry Miller talks about his literary passions, talks about his favorite books, and even gives a very voluminous list of them. Miller's tastes may seem paradoxical: the elitist Hamsun and Proust here peacefully coexist with the popular Walter Scott and Rider Haggard - but the writer's argument is all the more interesting.
Alberto Manguel is a renowned publisher, translator, editor and expert in many languages.
In this book, A. Manguel helps us understand why we read, how we read, why we read.
Facts from the history of reading are given, for example, that from the very beginning people did not know how to read, as we now read “our eyes run across the page, our lips do not move,” we read only out loud. When and where did letters and books first appear? What is the sweetness of reading? Is it good to steal books? Is it true that people were executed for the love of reading? Is reading passion, pleasure, relaxation and a good time?
He leads the reader from the Sumerians and their greatness through the first women's novels, the creation of paper and the press, the Renaissance to Borges, for whom he served as a reader.
The famous literary historian of the 20th century talks about books that, at all costs, should be read before the age of 16 - in no case later!
Because the books on the Shelves collected by Marietta Chudakova are so cunningly written that if you are late and start reading them as adults, you will never get the pleasure that is contained in them specifically for you - and it evaporates from them as you grow up.
But someone who read, say, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” before the age of 16, can then re-read them as many times as he likes until he is very old. Every time he will receive kilograms of pleasure!
An encyclopedic dictionary is a body of knowledge about the author, book, reader, the process of reading and understanding what is read. The book examines more than five hundred book and literary concepts.
The author managed to build a clear cultural quadrangle: author - book - reader - reading, and consider it in close connection and interaction of one with the other and in integrity.
14. Sergey Shtilman. "Learning to read classics from title to last line."
The book-guide by Moscow literature teacher Sergei Leonidovich Shtilman reveals the idea of “slow” reading - co-creation of the reader and the writer, offers new unexpected discoveries in the analysis of works of art studied at school, as well as topics (the language of facial expressions and gestures, speaking names) criticism is rarely addressed.
15. AND I. Linkova. "You and your book."
Every educator, every teacher, every adult knows that it is impossible to raise a child without the participation, without the influence of a book. Therefore, it is very important that schoolchildren learn real reading from a very early age. This riddle—to teach reading—is set by the author of the book, librarian I.Ya. Linkova. How to choose a book? How to read it? How to keep a reading diary? How to build your own library?
16. V. G. Marantsman. "The Reader's Work."
The purpose of the book is to teach high school students to read carefully, perceive emotionally, and thoughtfully analyze works of art of various kinds: epic, lyric and drama.
17.Pierre Gamarra. "Reading and rereading."
Pierre Gamarra is a French novelist, poet, and literary critic. This book introduces the reader to Gamarra the literary critic. It included his articles devoted to the works of writers from France and other countries. The author is distinguished by his desire to bring books closer to the mass reader, to help him navigate the boundless sea of literature.
In the monograph by N.K. Gay, the concept of meaningful artistic form developed by the author, and, in particular, poetics and prose style, is further developed.
The book examines the specific properties of the verbal artistic image, the place of literature among other forms of social consciousness.
There are many books and articles dedicated to the craft of writing. The author of this book, A. Zapadov, believes that it is necessary to improve the skill of the reader, who should learn to comprehend the emotional and psychological depth and expressiveness of the poetic word, which constitute one of the main advantages of Russian literature.
I will not be able to provide a complete list of references, since this would require covering the boundless topic of “literary criticism.” Here is only the initial minimum, which can serve as a beginning for a more detailed study of highly specialized books.
If anyone wants to expand the list considered, please write in the comments.
I'll finish the review here. Stay with us.
Reading books, magazines, brochures, articles on websites is a great way to absorb information, but only if you read it correctly. What should be left after the last page has been turned? Definitely new knowledge. But in addition - a clear understanding of “what and why”, the connections between individual facts and a holistic picture of the material studied. How to get this result is explained in the brochure “How to Read Books?” Sergei Povarnin, Russian logician and philosopher of the first half of the twentieth century.
Can reading be dangerous?
Reading is always perceived as a path to knowledge. And this is wrong. There are frankly bad books that distort and vulgarize the soul. They should be avoided, closed on the first page, placed on shelves and not even touched on the covers. You can deal with such book garbage relatively easily by carefully selecting literature to read and using lists of the best books and recommendations. But there is a much more terrible enemy of knowledge - superficial reading. Povarnin calls people with this illness “frasers” and “people with a mess in their heads.”
There are a lot of people who read just to avoid thinking.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg German scientist and publicist
Remember some friend who sprinkles quotes for all occasions and contradicts them with his actions, or a crossword puzzle person who knows a million facts in the world and yet does not understand a single connection between them. This is exactly what they are - people who know a lot and understand nothing. The appearance of such types is the result of the inability to read correctly, as well as the lack of connection between theory and practice. Misunderstood and not reinforced by action, knowledge remains as dry memorized phrases.
He lined the shelf with a group of books,
I read and read, but to no avail...Alexander Pushkin Russian poet
What do you want from a book?
You can read a book to, for example, study a new branch of science or find the answer to a question. The method of reading also depends on this purpose with which we turn to the book. To find information on a subject, it is not necessary to read everything from beginning to end, and it is difficult to understand the material if you read diagonally. Therefore, when starting to read a book, you must immediately determine the purpose of reading and choose the appropriate method. Povarnin distinguishes 4 such options:
- Skim - read the contents, leaf through the book, pay attention to the headings and some highlighted passages.
- Incomplete reading - look through the contents, find the section you are interested in, and study it carefully.
- Complete reading - read a book sequentially from beginning to end without skipping.
- With elaboration of the content - carefully study the book, “work through”, understand the material and make it “your own”.
The third option is the most common reading option. We open the book and start reading with the words “Dedicated to my children” until we come across a sheet of typographical information. This is a great option for reading fiction. Page turns after page, the characters' characters are revealed, the plot rapidly develops, and we live it together, absorb the characters and are amazed at the author's surprisingly bright and precise thoughts.
But this option is completely unsuitable for reading scientific literature. This method does not allow us to see the overall picture; it consistently reveals to us more and more complex sections, but at the same time does not provide any connection between knowledge. Therefore, to study complex material, Povarnin offers another method that helps both understand and remember forever.
The reading method and purpose can be linked like this:
- a quick glance - familiarization with the book, whether it is worth reading;
- incomplete reading - searching for answers to questions;
- Complete Reading - for fiction and inspirational literature;
- with content development - for studying books for self-education, work and study. It is important to understand and remember new material.
Constantly keeping the goal in mind and remembering the chosen method is the way to avoid wasting time studying unnecessary information or, conversely, reading too superficially and ineffectively.
Self-education requires initiative. But this initiative should not be expressed in self-stuffing one’s head with poorly understood information, but in assimilating it and in self-development.
Sergei Povarnin
Russian philosopher and logician
The most rarely used way of reading is with elaboration of the content, but it is this method that allows you to study the material as efficiently as possible. This is especially important when reading books for self-education.
How to “work through” a book?
A fact that needs to be accepted before studying scientific literature is that it cannot be read “head-on”, sequentially from cover to cover.
The step that separates reading a phrase from real understanding of what you read is awareness of the connections between facts and a clear vision of the big picture. It is important to clearly understand how what you just read is connected to already known material, as well as to imagine its place in the book as a whole.
The basic rule of understanding is formulated as follows: “From the general to the specific. From the particular to the general."
First you need to “embrace the book”, catch its main meaning and identify its constituent parts. Then delve into each part separately, sequentially dividing the book into smaller passages - moving from the general to the specific. This will help you see the structure of the new material and understand where it comes from. At the same time, one must be aware of the position of a single passage on the scale of the entire book. This allows you to accurately identify connections, find matches and understand “why was this even invented?” - move from the particular to the general. But that's not all. You need to find points of contact between the material you read and what you already know, think about and savor every thought, examine it from all sides and test it for strength. The more work you do on the text, the stronger your knowledge.
What we read in the book must somehow connect with the thoughts, information, emotions, etc. that we already had, enter their system, or change them. This is his job; this is the “working out” of the content of the book. And the deeper the connection is established between what we read and what we had before, the more and deeper the additions and changes made by what we read, the better and deeper the processing.
Sergei Povarnin
Russian philosopher and logician
So how to read?
To work through the book, you should study it in this order:
- Preface. Here, usually, “the author clarifies the tasks that he sets for the book.” After reading it, you can understand the essence and meaning of writing the book.
- Introduction. In this part, the author talks about what is needed to understand the book, provides clarifications, and details of the presentation. The introduction clarifies the main purpose of the book.
- Table of contents.“Usually, with its help, we can, without even reading a book, find out its general plan, main headings, general content, main topics touched upon in it.” It is the table of contents that helps to gradually move from the general to the specific and reveals the structure of the book.
- Conclusion. An extremely important point. Here, most often, the work completed is summed up, the meaning and plan of the book are again indicated, and the main idea of the book is formulated.
- Main part. Reading the book in its entirety, carefully reviewing the material.
The first four points are the basis for studying any book. Depending on your impression, you can already choose the appropriate reading method. Sometimes it is necessary to limit the entire work to just these four steps, since they allow you to briefly review and form a definite opinion about the book.
Advice: after reading a book, recall its content and meaning in your memory. This helps to notice a lack of understanding, to feel which places in the book are missed and insufficiently analyzed.
Reading with elaboration is a labor-intensive and difficult process. It’s rare to master it the first time, but even small first steps give a significant leap in understanding.
Sergei Povarnin lists the skills that will have to be developed in order to read correctly:
Concentrate on what you are reading.
Squeeze out the very essence of what you read, discarding the little things.
Thinking consistently and carefully is a whole wealth, irreplaceable; whoever possesses it has the very basis of real education and cannot but possess knowledge; he holds the key to deep reading, and with it to a deeper understanding of life.
Finally, imagining vividly and clearly, as if experiencing what you read, is a gift the importance of which many are not aware of.
What prevents us from reading as productively as possible?
It would seem that since you are reading a book, have found time for it, having abandoned alternatives, then read and take away the important things from it, slowly and thoroughly, make the author’s discoveries your property. But time after time, books fly by, touching only superficially our thoughts and leaving one title in our memory. The reason is laziness of thinking. Without carefully studying the material, without checking the truth of the author’s opinion, without thinking through the proposed questions, the opportunity to understand and remember the material is missed. That very missing evidence is the most difficult place and the cause of misunderstanding.
The author proves something. We need to analyze his proof. But this requires some effort of thinking: and so we slide further, rather, to where this effort is not required. To read with the least effort, with the least strain of thought and imagination - this is a frequent inclination. And it is the greatest obstacle to reading.
Sergei Povarnin
Russian philosopher and logician
When working through the text, the so-called . For example, the law of comprehension - the more deeply one understands the information being remembered, the better it will be remembered. Or the law of context - when connecting information with already familiar concepts, new things are learned better. Therefore, one of the key points for understanding a book is not to be lazy, check what you read every time, question the thoughts and statements of the author. Do not spare time and effort on this, because the deeper the work with the text, the more firmly the acquired knowledge is absorbed.
From whatever angle it was raised reading problem? And the most important thing is always NON-READING! However, I would say, in spite of everything, that reading anyhow and everything in a row is also not good. Today there are not so few readers who have managed to swallow smart words and are able to speak very convincingly about something that in practice they have absolutely no understanding of. Usually they say about such people - “He has a broad outlook!” It would seem good. We are often proud of such people. However, if we look at such Znayeks more closely, we are convinced that a person knows about everything and then nothing! He does not read in order to use the acquired knowledge in business. Rather, just swallow the next piece of information. What's the point in absorbing it? What are the benefits of the knowledge gained?
There are also readers who are fixated on a particular genre or a particular author. The most striking example of this is those who love love stories between vampires and humans! Oh, what romance! simply eclipsed the minds of young girls. And now they catch every new novel where there are two main words: ! But what does such reading actually give? Maybe new knowledge? Or the wisdom of life? Maybe it makes you think about human nature? Alas. In essence, these are the same women's novels for one time. Literature intended to entertain. I’m not at all against entertainment, if it weren’t for the obsession! What is the harm in reading this? The answer is escape from reality. Typically, romance novels are devoured by young girls. The novels are written as if they were carbon copies; only the geographical names, names, scenery and time of action change. Everything else is more or less the same. Love and happiness, which are extremely far from life. The idealization of relationships and the idealization of human qualities in these novels fill girls’ heads and take them far beyond the realities of the world. An example of this is the same! Flaubert described so vividly what women's novels led to the main character that there is no doubt that you still need to read in a variety of ways. Girls begin to dream the impossible! They don’t want to see the realities, they try to behave like the main characters, and then they wonder why their “Prince” left for another. Many never get married, waiting for the perfect handsome man on a white horse. Later they will say that real men have disappeared. However, if they had read other literature, for example, the same classics, the same Flaubert, they would most likely understand that the men described in the romance novels never existed. These are fairy tales for grown-up girls. Beautiful and romantic fairy tales. In reality, fairy tales may occur, but very, very rarely. The result is disappointment in life, loneliness, and inability to build relationships.
It also happens that a person reads only what is fashionable and sensational. The option is not the worst. Because fashion changes, opinions vary, and such reading still makes more sense. However, it would be good if a person set guidelines in the world of books on his own, and did not go with the flow.
And first of all, you need to clearly understand what goal you set for yourself. Questions: “Why are you picking up a book?” “What do you expect from reading?” must certainly take place. Otherwise, everything turns into spontaneity and a waste of time. And there is not very much of it in our lives. If your goal is to have fun, then you should immediately think about whether reading has grown into passion? Doesn't it take you away from reality? If you need a book to gain knowledge, then you should ask yourself: “Why do I need this knowledge?”, “Am I ready to put what I have received into practice?”, “Isn’t it better to spend my time on something more useful?” In other words, even before you begin the reading process, you should be aware of the purpose of reading.
Once priorities are set, the selection of a huge flow of information begins. In our information age, you can find a good hundred authors on the same topic. So what should we do? I recommend getting acquainted not even with the author, but with his results. What is the point of reading books by a teacher who has not had a single student in his entire life? There are a lot of theorists out there. But how can all these theories be brought to life? If the author has no results, either positive or negative in practice, but everything is only in theory, then it is better to look for a book by an author who has real experience. It is the one who was able to achieve results in life who can teach you at least something.
On the question of how to read books correctly, many authors recommend reading the same book twice. For the first time, you should familiarize yourself with the main thoughts of the author. It might even be possible to write something down. Follow the logic of the presentation of thoughts. When you have “listened” carefully to the author of the book, when you have grasped the essence of his point of view, begin to look for weak points. Read his book a second time and mentally try to argue with the author. Talk back to him. If there are not enough arguments, then try to find them in other books or articles. With this approach, the question you are studying will not look one-sided. You will certainly come to your own opinion. After all, it is in disputes that truth is born!
The next step is to test the knowledge gained from the book. There is no point in endlessly absorbing information. Why do you need knowledge of the ancient language of the Tumba-Yumba tribe if you are not going to translate documents found by archaeologists, are not going to analyze this language, and in general it is a passer-by in your life? Read the book, benefit from it! Try to get personal experience right away! And if the results are positive, then it makes sense to read other books by the author. If the result is negative, then look for your mistakes. If there are no errors, look for another book and try again! Without getting results in life, reading books turns into emptiness!
In conclusion, I would like to say about speed reading. It is only needed at the stage of searching for a useful book. When you start studying a book, speed reading is harmful! It is mainly built on a superficial familiarization with the content without much delving into the details. There is no point in reading this way. Because when you go towards your goal and begin to put the acquired knowledge into practice step by step, every detail is important. Otherwise, the result may be negative.
Many people believe that similar rules apply to textbooks and workshops, while fiction stands aside. It's a delusion. Fiction also teaches. And sometimes it teaches even more than workshops. Gogol’s “Dead Souls” show an amazing life without embellishment and teach things that no one teaches anywhere. For example, how to properly bribe an official. Such a textbook of life is worth a lot! And in practice it is very useful. And Pushkin in his books gave the best practical training in matters of love. Analyze the image of the same. What is her secret? It would seem that her sister Olga enjoys much greater success with men. However, it was Tatyana who ended up in a more successful marriage. You say that this is a novel! You never know what Pushkin invented! Certainly. But draw an analogy with life. How often we are surprised by that very riddle - she is such an ugly girl, but she married so well! And why did the beauty stay away? Maybe the answer lies in the short fairy tale by V.P. Kataev “The Pearl”? You ask, how to put into practice the knowledge gleaned from fiction? By conducting analogies with real life. After all, people do not change, only the historical situation changes. Everything has long been described: relationships between people, repeating historical events, division of power and political games, even technical discoveries of the future... Everything is so similar. Fiction is the experience of humanity in a wide variety of fields. The study of experience is always useful for the present and for a more realistic expectation of the future. How can you find out how useful an author is, since his results are almost invisible? This is wrong. The more often an author is cited, the greater the benefit of his books. Hardly anyone ever quoted the fool. In fiction, among lovers of reading, there is even a certain unspoken division according to goals:
- if you want to develop a sophisticated sense of humor, read Chekhov
- if you want to learn good manners, read Turgenev
- Do you want to understand human psychology? Look for Dreiser, Flaubert, Dostoevsky on the bookshelves
- set a goal to study the controversial, mysterious female soul - read Pushkin
- If you want to study historical eras, start with the books of Leo Tolstoy.
Happy reading!
