How to Read a Book

　　Mortimer J. Adler是芝加哥大學教授，曾擔任大英百科全書的編修顧問，也是本書首版的作者。自1940年出版後，即成為最成功也最受歡迎的閱讀指導手冊。

　　書中有到多種增進閱讀的技巧及各種文章閱讀的重點：

　　PART 1 The Dimensions of Reading
　　PART 2 The Third Level of Reading: Analytical Reading
　　PART 3 Approaches to Different Kinds of Reading Matter
　　PART 4 The Ultimate Goals of Reading

　　How to Read a Book, originally published in 1940, has become a rare phenomenon, a living classic. It is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader. And now it has been completely rewritten and updated.

　　You are told about the various levels of reading and how to achieve them -- from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author's message, and criticize. You are taught the different reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science.

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

作者簡介

　　MORTIMER J. ADLER (1902-2001) served as the chairman of Britannica's Board of Editors, director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, and senior associate and founder of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. He authored the well-known How to Read a Book and the intellectual autobiography Philosopher at Large, and was co-editor, with Charles Van Doren, of Great Treasury of Western Thought, declared the reference book of 1977 by the American Library Association.

　　CHARLES VAN DOREN is an American intellectual and former TV quiz show contestant. Van Doren earned a bachelor's degree from St. John's College and went on to earn a masters in astrophysics and a doctorate in English from Columbia University, where he later taught English.