Analytical reading is the third level of reading as demonstrated in How To Read A Book - The Classic Guide To Intelligent Reading. It is said to be the best reading technic for one with an unlimited reading time.
The technic is a set of rules, and is mostly used to take the best out of a specific book. It consists in 15 rules, divided into 4 stages :
I - Rules for finding what a book is about
- Classify the book according to kind and subject.
- State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity.
- Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.
- Define the problem or problems the author has tried to solve
References:
- Evaluate a book
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II - Rules for interpreting a book’s contents
- Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words.
- Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences.
- Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
- Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and of the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve.
References:
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III - Rules for criticizing a book as a communication of knowledge: general maxims of intellectual etiquette
- Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book. (Do not say you agree, disagree, or suspend judgment, until you can say “I understand”).
- Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously.
- Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgment you make.
IV - Rules for criticizing a book as a communication of knowledge: special criteria for points of criticism
- Show wherein the author is uninformed.
- Show wherein the author is misinformed.
- Show wherein the author is illogical.
- Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete.