On Reading

Whether you want to be a better investor, entrepreneur or human, there is one skill that is the critical foundation: reading.

One book stands above all others on the topic of how to read. Mortimer Adler and Charlie Van Doren’s “How to Read a Book” is the seminal work on the methodology of reading. This is the single book that I have recommended most to novices and experts alike to develop reading skills capable of improving insight.

The title “How to Read a Book” often elicits chuckles implying it may be an amateurish treatment of a topic many take for granted. Let me knock down any such notions here and now. Mastering “Syntopical Reading”, the fourth and highest level of reading in Adler and Van Doren’s book is an essential skill for building deep domain knowledge in any subject. It is also essential in building cross-domain insights which are at the heart of this blog.

The four levels of reading as presented by Adler and Van Doren are:

• Elementary Reading
• Inspectional Reading
• Analytical Reading
• Syntopical Reading

Once mastering elementary reading, basic reading proficiency, readers will learn to employ inspectional, analytical and syntopical reading as diverse tools designed to meet different challenges. Inspectional reading is designed to extract the maximum amount of information is the shortest period of time. Analytical reading is for extracting maximum value given no time constraint. Let the wrestling begin. The fourth level, syntopical, is comparative reading where the reader ingests content for multiple authors at the same time while coming to own the content through the development of an independent but informed point of view.

Lastly, “How to Read a Book” is not about speed reading or other gimmicks that are of limited value. Instead, it is about how to wrestle with ideas. The author’s ideas and your ideas. It is this process of coming to terms with an author and yourself that is at the heart of deeper learning.