Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Language
  3. Language-learning

Read and listen for free for 42 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
4.0(1)

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

With half a million copies in print, How to Read a Book is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader, completely rewritten and updated with new material.

A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It's masterfully done.” –Farheed Zakaria

Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” and also how to X-ray it, read critically, and extract the author’s message from the text.

Also included is instruction in the different techniques that work best for reading particular genres, such as practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science works.

Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests you can use measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.


Authors:

  • Mortimer J. Adler
  • Charles Van Doren

Format:

  • E-book

Duration:

  • 341 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Language
  • Language-learning

More by Mortimer J. Adler

Skip the list
  1. How to Read a Book : The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

    Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren

    audiobook
  2. How to Speak How to Listen

    Mortimer J. Adler

    audiobook
  3. Paideia Program

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  4. How to Think About God

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  5. How to Speak How to Listen

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  6. Aristotle for Everybody

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  7. Six Great Ideas

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  8. Paideia Proposal

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  9. Ten Philosophical Mistakes

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  10. Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book
  11. Angels and Us

    Mortimer J. Adler

    book

Others have also read

Skip the list
  1. Write Like Hemingway : Writing Lessons You Can Learn from the Master

    R. Andrew Wilson

    book
  2. Survivor Café: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory

    Elizabeth Rosner

    audiobook
  3. Forever Frida : A Celebration of the Life, Art, Loves, Words, and Style of Frida Kahlo

    Kathy Cano-Murillo

    book
  4. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

    Francis S. Collins

    audiobook
  5. Summary Bundle: Business & Life | Readtrepreneur Publishing: Includes Summary of The Everything Store & Summary of The First 90 Days

    Readtrepreneur Publishing

    audiobook
  6. How to Focus : 54 Habits, Tools and Ideas to Create Superhuman Focus, Eliminate Distractions, Stop Procrastination and Achieve More With Less Work

    A. V. Mendez

    audiobook
  7. The Once and Future Liberal : After Identity Politics

    Mark Lilla

    audiobook
  8. Head Strong : The Bulletproof Plan to Activate Untapped Brain Energy to Work Smarter and Think Faster-in Just Two Weeks

    Dave Asprey

    audiobook
  9. Write It All Down : How to Put Your Life on the Page

    Cathy Rentzenbrink

    audiobook
  10. Solve For Happy : Engineer Your Path to Joy

    Mo Gawdat

    audiobookbook
  11. Arvot ja merkit

    Eero Tarasti

    book
  12. Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

    William Green

    audiobook

  • 12 books

    Mortimer J. Adler

    Dr. Mortimer J. Adler was Chairman of the Board of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, Honorary Trustee of the Aspen Institute, and authored more than fifty books. He died in 2001.

    Read more

  • 2 books

    Charles Van Doren

    Dr. Charles Van Doren earned advanced degrees in both literature and mathematics from Columbia University, where he later taught English and was the Assistant Director of the Institute for Philosophical Research. He also worked for Encyclopedia Britannica in Chicago.

    Read more

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5