So, the process of Inspectional Reading (which is a systematic skimming a book) is the process of discovering the context (which is the book), Analytical Reading is the process of transforming this context into the text, and Synoptical Reading is the process of widening the context to include other books (thereby the book becomes a text within a context).
can you expand on this for me? i understand what you mean by these in theory given the previous context (wow, how relevant), but what exactly do these mean in practice? are they recommended to be done in order?
furthermore, do you think the essential ideas contained within this text that you’ve read are true enough (i.e. in alignment with reality, wow again how relevant) that you would recommend it for those wishing to learn how to study? do you think the information is or will be valuable to you?
I don’t think what I wrote was very useful for someone that hasn’t read the book.
For someone that hasn’t read it, I think it’s a really good book. That’s it. It’s easy to read and it has personally helped me on how to absorb larger texts. It’s like a guide on how to build a scaffold to read theory, I think. Adler even gives you a checklist of what you should do, like “Rule 1 - read the title, Rule 2 - read the first lines of each chapter etc.”.
It’s about 300 pages long but I think the chapters on Inspectional and Analytical reading are enough for like 99% of Communist theory and I think you can read them in an afternoon.
For how true it is, it was useful for me, I suppose. I thought about how it relates to working memory and stuff but honestly it’s not relevant. It’s just a checklist with explanations. If it doesn’t work for you, I still think that you can adapt the advice for you.
In short, what I wrote was me looking at a manual on how to read, looking at communist theory and thinking “hmm similar.”
So, the book tells us that there exists 4 levels of reading – Elementary, Inspectional, Analytic, and Synoptical --, each building on each other. Think of a tower. Here’s an explanation:
Elementary: reading in it’s most basic terms. If you can read this, you are on this level. If you don’t master this level, when for example you read something in a language you can’t understand, you won’t be able to read a book systematically
Inspectional: it’s skimming the book to understand what the book is about, how it’s organized. Here your focus is on the form and purpose of a book. Think how you can instantly know if you are reading a recipe vs a manual, even though both are “instructional”. Not because of the content, but because of the title, the headings, etc. In short, it’s doing the best reading possible in a limited amount of time.
Analytical: it’s actually reading the book well. How do you build a good mental model to understand the content of the book?
Synoptical: it’s making a synthesis of the content of several books with your own judgement and previous knowledge. As an analogy, it’s like each book became a paragraph in an article. You are the author here.
The book is not a philosophical work. It’s very practical. Each one of those levels has its own practical concrete techniques on how to perform them well.
Also, it has tips on specific types of books like math ones, novels, philosophical works etc.
I liked this book because it helped me see texts differently. Like, for example, think about why authors do not give you an outline of their arguments. Why is prose so important even in technical works? Why did Lenin have to spend so much time talking about other people’s ideas and why was that so important?
I think it’s a good book. Adler 100% was not a Communist (he spends a lot of the chapter on Elementary Reading talking about the US in positive terms. I skipped it) but I think his advice was very dialectical in my opinion.
I hope this helps. Did I understand your question?
i think that makes plenty of sense! put it on my reading list, since i’ve been doing a lot of thinking and studying on how to think and study correctly, so it seems very relevant to me (which is why i asked about it). thanks for the short write-ups!
can you expand on this for me? i understand what you mean by these in theory given the previous context (wow, how relevant), but what exactly do these mean in practice? are they recommended to be done in order?
furthermore, do you think the essential ideas contained within this text that you’ve read are true enough (i.e. in alignment with reality, wow again how relevant) that you would recommend it for those wishing to learn how to study? do you think the information is or will be valuable to you?
I don’t think what I wrote was very useful for someone that hasn’t read the book.
For someone that hasn’t read it, I think it’s a really good book. That’s it. It’s easy to read and it has personally helped me on how to absorb larger texts. It’s like a guide on how to build a scaffold to read theory, I think. Adler even gives you a checklist of what you should do, like “Rule 1 - read the title, Rule 2 - read the first lines of each chapter etc.”.
It’s about 300 pages long but I think the chapters on Inspectional and Analytical reading are enough for like 99% of Communist theory and I think you can read them in an afternoon.
For how true it is, it was useful for me, I suppose. I thought about how it relates to working memory and stuff but honestly it’s not relevant. It’s just a checklist with explanations. If it doesn’t work for you, I still think that you can adapt the advice for you.
In short, what I wrote was me looking at a manual on how to read, looking at communist theory and thinking “hmm similar.”
Another comrade on hexbear did a way better job than me of telling what this book is about
So, the book tells us that there exists 4 levels of reading – Elementary, Inspectional, Analytic, and Synoptical --, each building on each other. Think of a tower. Here’s an explanation:
The book is not a philosophical work. It’s very practical. Each one of those levels has its own practical concrete techniques on how to perform them well.
Also, it has tips on specific types of books like math ones, novels, philosophical works etc.
I liked this book because it helped me see texts differently. Like, for example, think about why authors do not give you an outline of their arguments. Why is prose so important even in technical works? Why did Lenin have to spend so much time talking about other people’s ideas and why was that so important?
I think it’s a good book. Adler 100% was not a Communist (he spends a lot of the chapter on Elementary Reading talking about the US in positive terms. I skipped it) but I think his advice was very dialectical in my opinion.
I hope this helps. Did I understand your question?
Thank you comrade, reading your thoughts on this book was very interesting
No problem!
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i think that makes plenty of sense! put it on my reading list, since i’ve been doing a lot of thinking and studying on how to think and study correctly, so it seems very relevant to me (which is why i asked about it). thanks for the short write-ups!
No problem!