Transcript for:
استادی در هنر خواندن برای بصیرت

he should be as much prepared to have his own mind changed as to change the mind of another because when you are reading for understanding you're reading for truth how you read is honestly just as important as what you read and learning to read well maybe the most important skill you can learn in life let's discuss Adler's how to read a [Music] book what's going on everyone welcome to the cause my name is Rob and today we're discussing a really cool book we are going to be going over what could the single most important skill in life how to read a book and not just read a book but absorb a book how to digest the book taste some and truly understand others from the Bible to Aristotle to Jane Austin the skill and power of reading well can save your soul change your life and bring you Joy if you want to participate in what has been called the great conversation it is essential to read well not so much to contribute as only a few have the minds that are capable of doing that but but to at least understand to understand Beauty virtue ethics and what truly constitutes living a good life one man in the past Century did just about more than any other to compile promote and share the great conversation with us his name was mmia Adler he was born in 1902 and he would die in 2001 so this dude was born before the airplane and he would die shortly after Google was found the changes that generation witnessed just completely blows my mind how to read a book is a book on how to read for understanding versus Just for information can you not only remember what you read but can you explain it if need be can you demonstrate it can you teach it you can learn by instruction or you can learn by Discovery reading because a teacher advised you to fill your mind with information is reading by instruction dates rules quotes major events but how to read a book is for those who are reading for Discovery every book you finish is a piece of the puzzle that you are putting together in a way it gives a clue to the next book that you need to consume the more you read read The Hunger you get and reading turns from a simple task to an epic pilgrimage to whatever it is you're seeking the concepts in this book are simple practical and they're very easy to implement so I'm going to outline his reading method and share what I think are the major features and the takeaways takeaways of the book the book is separated into into four parts and we'll start with the four levels of reading the first level is Elementary reading which is basically what it sounds like there is a focus on making sure this foundational level is reached because it's so important to have this foundational level before you start reaching to the higher levels a great quote in this section is this we must become a nation of truly competent readers recognizing all that the word competent implies nothing less will satisfy the needs of the world that is coming Eller is saying it's not just for your own sake but it's for the sake of the nation as well basically it is your duty to learn to read and actually to learn to read well we quickly move into the second level of reading which is inspectional reading we use this a lot in emails and social media content just kind of choosing keywords reading key sentences and basically just moving on Aller says skimming through the book reading the table of contents finding key wordss and then maybe even reading the first sentence or two of each chapter just to get a kind of a feel in the flow of the book is ideal for one it will save you time if the book sucks and it's not worth reading there are books we have all quit reading just because the book does not satisfy the requirement we had intended a good analogy here is a jigsaw puzzle my mom will collect all the edge pieces and she'll put the frame together first and then she'll start filling in the middle to me that's it's kind of like inspectional reading you are forming a frame of what the book is going to be about and if you approve of the frame then you can go ahead and spend the time it'll take to actually complete and read the book so before we get into the third level of reading it's important to cover what active reading is active reading is just focused reading usually if you are intensely inspectional reading just kind of skimming through you're pretty focused you're trying to figure out what the keywords are about what the argument is what's the problem and stuff like that to participate in the book you have to ask questions while you read the book questions like what is the book about is the book true in whole or in part and what of it and I know some people are against it but to read well you have to make the book yours Mark the book up write in it argue with makavelli in the margins cheer on wolman with an underline and highlight a equip from epicus with a star find the zingers in the book and just mark them up accordingly the more you scribble in the book The more you make the book your own you become a part of the book The more your mind starts to blend with the authors as Aller says it's the highest respect you can pay pay the author before we dive into the third and most important level of reading I would like to tell you about our sponsor for this video Ralston College picking a college is similar to picking a good book you want something that is challenging and will expand your mind it needs to be established in truth and have the ability to cultivate a character of moral purpose Roston college is currently accepting applications for its ma in Humanities this program includes traveling to Greece for 2 months and studying ancient and modern Greek Ron's focus is very classical driven with a commitment to the great text similar to the ones I cover on this channel from Reading Homer in actual Greek to experiencing a very warm place with Dante rost's focus on great literature is unparalleled they have a very generous scholarship program that ensures that all admitted students can attend regardless of their financial situation if only we could turn back the hands of time and Roston could have been around 15 years ago I would be much further along in my understanding of Greek but such is life I plan to visit Roston College in the fall I'm most likely going to Vlog and kind of document that little journey so I think that's going to be it's going to be really fun I will provide a link below in the description please go check out Ron's website as they have an extensive amount of information and they even have some free lectures they have a YouTube channel with lectures on there I honestly want to thank rosson for sponsoring this video keeping Western culture and tradition alive is something I am in accordance with and I fully support their mission and what they are trying to accomplish again rosson's information can be found in the description below applications are currently open but the deadline is the end of April so this month month go check them out now let's get back to all's book the third level of reading is analytical reading this level of reading goes beyond reading for entertainment or information at this level you are reading for understanding and Discovery he goes over some rules such as classifying books uh before you read them but a major takeaway here is coming to terms with the author Adler says if the author uses a word in one meaning and the reader reads it in another words have passed between them but they have not come to terms where there is unresolved ambiguity in communication there is no communication the goal of the writer is to make the terms understandable and clear and for the reader it is your duty to work with the author to determine the true meaning Aller also says you operate with meaning that you already possess this is why I have found reading much easier later in life I possess more meaning and experience when things intrigue me more he says terms in longer form turn into propositions and propositions are nothing but expressions of personal opinion unless they are support by reason which we see this a lot nowadays unless you can show acquaintance with actual or possible facts to which the proposition refers or is relevant somehow you are playing with words not dealing with thought and knowledge think about that it is easier to play with words and mold them to fit a narrative rather than put in the work to find the truth or factual evidence we see this with politicians a lot and this next line really sends it home one of the most familiar tricks of the order or propagandist is to leave certain things unsaid things that are highly relevant to the argument but that might be challenged if they were made explicit this is why the long form podcast has become so popular over the past few years I feel as humans we deep down want to know the truth and learn Aller says that the profit in good conversation is something learned he then moves into criticizing a book to read a book well you have to judge it pick it apart compare it to what you know is true compared to other great books but you can't do that until you fully understand the book nothing is worse than someone who degrades a book and then they say they couldn't get past the first 10 pages at that point you can't have a complete understanding of the book so the best critique you can actually have about the book is just abstaining from any judgment you can't judge correctly until you understand and you can't understand until you finish the book but Prejudice makes us judge so you may not be teachable on certain subjects that you have a prejudice against Aller says teachability requires that a teacher be fully heard and more than that understood before he is Jud judged Aller provides some advice here that I believe is needed probably more than ever nowadays do not begin to talk back until you have listened carefully and are sure you understand not until you are honestly satisfied that you have accomplished the first two stages of reading should you feel free to express yourself the understanding of the subject is highly important he says to agree without understanding is insane to disagree without understanding is impudent most of the time we should just suspend judgment which is also a form of criticism and with that being said if criticism of a book is not based in understanding it is irrelevant discard it throw it away it means nothing he then moves into another topic that I think is very relevant Prejudice and disagreement men are creatures of passion and Prejudice the language they must use to communicate is an imperfect medium clouded by emotion and colored by interest as well as inadequately transparent For Thought yet to the extent that men are rational these obstacles to their understanding can be overcome our language is not perfect but that is why we have the ability to rationalize and use reason a great line in the book is this one here the relatively ignorant often wrongly disagree with the relatively learned about matters exceeding their own knowledge now I have been guilty of this entering into conversations I was not prepared for and out of ego arguing because I wanted to win instead of learn but he says inequality and knowledge is always curable by instruction nothing is more of a turnoff than somebody arguing a point they have clearly no knowledge of most of the time that persons focus on being right and winning versus learning and understanding Aller says he should be as much prepared to have his own mind changed as to seek to change the mind of another I love that so in terms of reading a book this is very important concept to keep in mind he goes into some ways to kind of help you read and in this section of the book is a little dated in my opinion but still functional as most of the reading aids are still available we just have many additional reading aids available to us because of the internet such as the Kindle and online dictionaries and stuff like that now Aller is not really a big fan of using these reading aids to help you understand Aller thinks that the growth of reading comes in the wrestling match you have with it to experience a marathon completely you can't just hop on a bike from Mile 10 to 20 and get off and continue running I think Adler views most reading aids in that way you can use them just use them sparingly he says they cannot do the thinking for you you have to think through the book he quickly moves into how to read all the different types of books from practical to poetry I will not dive into all of them individually but there are a few takeaways I'd like to highlight the next line has sojourned in my head ever since I read it your main judgment will always be in terms of the ends not the means we have no practical interest in even the soundest means to reach ends we dis approve of or do not care about read that over a few times I have attached that statement to so many things that are going on nowadays and it has completely blown me away we focus so much resources and effort on the means and we completely disregard the quality of the outcome this is honestly insane once you sit down and actually think about it he also has a blurb on propaganda that is just magically worded what reaches the heart without going through the mind is likely to bounce back and put the mind out of business propaganda taken in that way is like a drug you do not know you are swallowing the effect is mysterious you do not know afterwards why you feel or think the way you do that is another one to ponder on for just a bit learning to read well allows you to better defend against the Dangerous Drug of propaganda I would love to know how much information we take in nowadays that is actually true versus misinformation in propaganda he mentions history and because this is my favorite genre to spend my reading time on I wanted to point out a few lines from Adler the first is an important note to remember history suggests the possible for it describes things that have already been done if it happened in the past then we have reason to believe it could happen again Adler warns us against reading history in a biased way you have to read history as a detective discovering for yourself what truly happened history is also usually written by the winner and we have to take that into consideration Winston Churchill knew this very well as his quip inails history will be kind to me for I intend to write it and write it he did Aller also goes over reading philosophy and a couple lines stood out to me a mind not agitated by good questions cannot appreciate the significance of even the best answers he really makes it clear that taking the time to think about the concepts in philosophy is just as important as reading the words I feel we get so focus on the quantity of books we read and the goal of completion of said book that we forget the duty of understanding which is the point of reading you may read about the cave in the light in Plato's Republic and then sit down and think about it for 30 minutes book closed just thinking then pick it up and continue on everywhere I go in my head I meet Plato coming back we then take all this knowledge and understanding and we move into the fourth level of reading which is syntopical reading syntopical is a type of analysis in which different works are compared and contrasted so to make it clear right off the bat if you want to have a clear understanding of the American Civil War you can't just read about Grant and Sherman you also need to read about Lee and Long Street and if you just have a military knowledge of the Civil War you don't really know much about the Civil War what did the election of Lincoln signify who was Calhoun have you read Uncle Tom's Cabin how was wealth accumulated in the different areas of the country why was the expansion and the abolition of slavery important to different political groups we have to broaden our reading criteria and read multiple books from multiple sources from different points of view this is the importance of syntopical reading Aller says when you read syntopically you must be the master of the situation each book will give you Clues and bring you closer to the destination of Truth in which you are in search of you may realize that certain books need to be read first before you proceed to the next Aller suggests creating a list of questions and putting them in an order and then trying to read to discover the answers your answers May differ from what is socially acceptable you may find that what you have been taught is incorrect Aller says the syntopical reading in short tries to look at all sides and to take no sides a problem with syntopical reading and not so much a problem as a hurdle to deal with is deciding what books to read on the subject you are interested in and then after that deciding what order to read them in Elliot's Harvard Classics which I'm going through on this channel and ader's famous set great books of the western world are both a perfect example of syntopical reading the goal is to gain something by each book but the overall goal is to gain A Lifetime Love of learning and also to learn how to live the overall goal is just to gain a character of dignity and respect Aller ends the book with a strong passage that is more applicable nowadays than ever he says television radio and all the sources of amusement and information that have surrounded us in our daily lives are also artificial props they can give us the impression that our minds are active because we are required to react to stimuli from outside but the power of those external stimuli to keep us going is limited they are like drugs we grow used to them and we continuously need more and more of them eventually they have little or no effect then if we lack resources within ourselves we cease to grow intellectually morally and spiritually and when we cease to grow we begin to die now we have to remember this was written 50 plus years ago so much change in terms of what competes for your time the end of the book includes a reading list of like 137 authors in chronological order from Homer to Alexander I can never say his last name schulten niten we will be covering a lot of these in my series on the Harvard Classics these 137 authors and all these books build on each other and this list is basically the foundations what has been coined the great conversation that being said I'll link the book down below for your convenience thank you so much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review on how to read a book by Mr Adler it's an easy read so I'd highly recommend any student uh just entering High School in high school or going into college to to check it out it's practical it's easy to read and you'll definitely get something out of it so with that being said read some amazing books drink some amazing coffee and I will see you next week as we move in to Paradise Lost looking forward to it thank y'all so much love youall loves the Rolling Stones turns up the radio every time the come on never be a beast of burden