Chapter 2 preamble

The first edition of was published in early 1940.Surprised, and I admit to delight, the book became an instant bestseller, topping the US bestseller list for over a year.Beginning in 1940, the book continued to be widely distributed in print, in both hardcover and paperback, and was translated into other languages—French, Swedish, German, Spanish, and Italian.So why bother rewriting and rearranging it for the current generation of readers? The reason for doing this is that in the past thirty years, our society and reading itself have undergone great changes.Today, many more young men and women are completing high school and four years of college.Despite (or even because of) the spread of radio and television, more people were literate.Interest in reading has a tendency to shift from fiction to non-fiction.American educators all admit that teaching young people to read and read with the most basic reading concepts has become the most important educational issue.The current Minister of Health, Education and Welfare, who has pointed out that the 1970s were the age of reading, has provided substantial federal funding to support various efforts to improve basic reading skills, many of which are inspiring children to read at this level Indeed) some results have been achieved.Plus, many adults are fascinated by the bright promise of speed reading courses—the promise of improving their reading comprehension and reading speed.

However, some things have remained unchanged over the past three decades.One of them is that in order to achieve all the purposes of reading, it is necessary to use appropriate different speeds when reading different books.Not all books can be read at top speed.The French scholar Pascal said three hundred years ago: "Reading too fast or too slow, you will get nothing." Now that speed reading has become a national frenzy, the new edition addresses this issue and puts forward different Speed ​​reading method is the solution.The goal is to read better, always better, though sometimes slower and sometimes faster.

Unfortunately, one other thing that hasn't changed is that the level of guided reading remains at the basic level.Most of the talents, money, and efforts in our education system are spent on reading instruction for six years in elementary school.Beyond this range, which can lead students to higher levels, formal training requiring different reading skills is rare. In 1939, Professor James Mursell of Columbia University's School of Education published an article in the "Atlantic Monthly": "The Failure of Schooling".Now I quote two passages he wrote at that time, which are still very apt:

Are schools effectively teaching students how to read in their native language?You can say yes, or you can say no.By the fifth and sixth grades, overall, reading has been effectively taught and learned.Before this point, we found that the learning curve for reading was steady and generally progressive, but after that point, the curve dropped to a dead level.This is not to say that a person has reached the natural limit of one's learning ability by the sixth grade, for evidence has repeatedly shown that with special instruction both adults and older children can make significant improvements.At the same time, this does not mean that most sixth graders have enough comprehension when they read various practical books.Many students have poor grades after entering middle school because they cannot read the meaning of the book.They can improve, they need to improve, but they don't.

By the time they graduate from high school, students have read a lot of books.But if he's going to go on to college, he'll have to do more, and at this point he's likely to look like a poor guy who can't read at all (note: I'm talking about the average student, not the students who have been specially trained).He can read a little simple novel and enjoy it.But if he is asked to read well-structured and detailed works, or succinct essays, or chapters that call for the exercise of rigorous thought, he cannot help it.For example, it has been proved that it is even more difficult for ordinary middle school students to grasp what the central idea of ​​a passage is, or where the main and sub-emphasis of an essay are.Regardless of which aspect, even if he enters college, his reading ability will only stay at the level of the sixth grade of elementary school.

If society needed a book like the first edition's welcome thirty years ago, it needs a book like this even more today.But responding to these pressing needs was not the sole, or even the main, motivation for rewriting this book.A new perspective on the question of learning "how to read"; a deeper understanding and a more complete analysis concept of the complex art of reading; how to flexibly use the basic rules to do different forms of reading (in fact, it can be extended to all kinds of reading materials) ; for the newly invented reading rules; for the concept that reading should be like a pyramid-the base is thick, the top is sharp, etc. These are all concepts that were not properly explained or not mentioned at all when I wrote this book thirty years ago.All of this has urged me to elaborate and rewrite it completely to present it as it is now completed and published.

A year after it was published, there was a parody book How to Read Two Books by Bojun Yican, and Professor IA Richards wrote a serious paper How to Read Two Books How to Read a Page.To mention these follow-ups is to point out that some of the reading problems mentioned in these two works, whether funny or serious, are discussed in my rewritten book, especially how to read a series of related books. books, and a clear grasp of their complementary and conflicting issues on the same topic. Among the various reasons for rewriting, I have particularly emphasized the art of reading, and also pointed out the requirement for a higher level of this art.This is the part of the first edition that we didn't talk about or elaborate on.Anyone who wants to know what has been added needs only to compare the table of contents of the new edition with the original edition, and it will be clear in no time.Of the four parts in this book, only the second, the one detailing the rules of "Analytical Reading," is very similar to the original, but has in fact been substantially rewritten.The first part introduces four different levels of reading—elementary reading, inspectional reading, analytical reading, and syntopical reading. This is the most basic and decisive change in the layout and content of this book.The third part is the most added part of the book, explaining in detail how to approach different reading materials in different reading methods-how to read practical and theoretical works, imaginary literature (lyric poems, epics, novels, plays), history, science And mathematics, social science and philosophy, as well as reference books, newspapers and magazines, and even advertisements.Finally, Part Four, Discussion of Thematic Readings, is a completely new chapter.

I have had the help of Charles Van Doren in re-updating the book.He was my colleague at the Institute for Philosophical Research for many years.We co-wrote other books together, most notably the twenty-volume Annals of America published by Encyclopedia Britannica Publishing Company in 1969. of America).As for why we are collaborating and rewriting this book together, perhaps there is a more relevant reason: Over the past eight years, Van Doren and I have worked closely together and chaired many seminars on the great books, as well as in Chicago. , San Francisco, Aspen, Colorado, and many seminars.As a result of these experiences, we gained many new perspectives to rewrite this book.

I am grateful to Mr. Van Doren for his contribution in our collaboration.He and I would like to express our deepest gratitude for constructive criticism and guidance.Thanks also to our friend, Arthur LHRubin, for his help in persuading us to propose many significant changes in this new edition, giving this book a different life than the previous edition, and becoming what we hoped it would be. A better and more useful book. Mortimer J Adler Written in Boca Grande, March 26, 1972