How to Read (and Understand) Hard Books

This is a guide to reading and understanding your books. Most of what I say is based on Mortimer Adler's book 'How to Read a Book', which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to get serious about reading. Aside from the four levels of reading, Adler's book goes over the differences between reading fiction, different types of non-fiction (history, philosophy, etc.), and practical books.

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[_jared]

A few notes:

1. Hitchens isn't the hardest author to read, but his book served as a decent example for the purposes of this video (and I had the book ready at hand).

2. Throughout, I mentioned synoptical reading — but Adler wrote about syntopical reading. A helpful commenter corrected me (and apparently many others have made that mistake).

[kimjennielol]

Superficial reading
Analytical reading
-classify the book
-x-ray the book(skimming+pre reading)
-come to terms with the author
-determine the message
- criticize the book fairly
- determine your own conclusion

[Onkruid]

Brb grabbing my copy of green eggs and ham real quick

[leonalmeida]

I discovered Mortimer Adler’s How To Read a Book in high school. It totally changed my life. It was like finding the key to a better world.

[Tymbus]

I read a lot of hard academic books. I find returning to them even years later really help me, perhaps because I know more or perhaps because I have different questions to ask of the books. I think 'Why am I reading this book?' is as important question as 'What is this book about?'

[josephr]

My philosophy teacher last year tortured my class. He had us read a bunch of Hegel and Feaubach. I wish those reads on my worst enemy.

[ChrisGBaker]

Thank you. I’ve read Adler and Van Doran’s “How to Read a Book” many times. Your video here helped me understand its contents even more.

[nunyabidness]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:

00:00 *📚 Understanding hard books is a common challenge even for advanced readers.*
00:29 *📖 There are four types of reading: Elementary, Inspectional, Analytical, and Syntopical.*
01:53 *🧐 Before diving into a book, conduct an inspection to understand its content, table of contents, and introduction.*
04:00 *✍️ During the superficial read, quickly skim the text without stopping to ponder or look up unknown terms.*
05:37 *📖 Analytical reading involves deep engagement with the text, making thorough annotations, and taking detailed notes.*
08:41 *🔍 Define key terms used by the author to fully understand the text's message.*
09:37 *📝 Identify the author's message by analyzing specific arguments and evidence presented.*
10:31 *🤔 Critically assess the book by considering its arguments, exploring counterarguments, and forming your own conclusions.*
12:07 *📚 Syntopical reading involves comparing multiple books on the same subject to understand different perspectives and arguments.*

[jonryan]

i believe this aligns with plato’s and socrates encouragement of critical thinking when it came to education…they often criticized the focus on just memorization rather than drawing your own conclusions and asking deeper questions.

[nathananderson]

This is one of the channels that gave me the courage to start my YouTube channel 8 months ago about self development. Now I have 1, 056 subs and > 800 hours of watch time. I know it’s not comparable with others but I’m still proud I started because I’ve been learning so many lessons that I could haven’t learned without getting started in the 1st place.

[EricMcLuen]

For me language is often the atumbling block. Philosophers and theologians like naming things and don't often care if someone else used the same name in a slightly different context.
Pobably the most difficult book I have, attemptedz to read was feom colege - Meaning of Christ, a Mahayana Buddhist Point of View. You basically had to learn a new language if you weren't well versed in Buddhist thought.
I might give Goedel, Escher and Bach another shot at some point.
But like all reading, knowing what you are getting into before you start can be a big plus.

[authenticmanstan]

Just got done with a midterm for a course on Kant and The Critique of Pure Reason here at UCLA - these books are no joke…
Thanks for ur practical tips fellow philosopher 🙌🙏🤘

[Phoppa]

I discovered your videos recently during my height of curiosity about stoicism. Watching your content, I can’t help to think that they will be a perfect fit for Nebula. Great job btw, Jared. Truly a rare creator in this landscape

[GOD_NEON]

From what you said it looks like I’ve been doing analytical + synoptical. I go through a book underling, highlighting and annotated bits that I feel are important and then I go over them multiple times after I finish the book. I also make sure to read books surrounding the same topic to drive it home.

[mrinalkrant]

00:01 Learn how to get the most out of what you read
01:35 To understand a book, first figure out what it is about.
03:07 Pre-reading a book helps you understand what it's about and feel more comfortable.
04:43 Analytical reading involves diving deep into a book and taking thorough notes.
06:22 Understanding the structure of a hard book is crucial for effective reading.
08:00 Understanding the author's main message and defining key terms is crucial for deeply reading non-fiction books.
09:39 Identifying specific ways Orwell has been misinterpreted and still matters in the 21st century.
11:23 Final pronouncement about a book should be complex and nuanced, even if you disagree with it.
Crafted by Merlin AI.

[elendor]

This is great. Im a physics student and the deeper element of understanding physics, is generally mathematics. I have struggled with finding a way of really understanding pure philosophy so this should be very helpful.

[bookofthedeadinternet]

i found this book recently on a self-study philosophy reading list and i thought it would be dreadfully boring but i'm enjoying it so far! i'm working on the 'how to read philosophy' section right now. i'm glad that you posted this and i found your channel! looking forward to watching your other content

[jessicaweldon]

your channel is amazing!!! I loved this video as an english student who loves classics but struggles outside of class

[ethanlafont]

I’ve been presenting on Adler’s book to the Upper School students of the school I teach at. Love the video.

[Athul-xy]

Its a delight finding your channel, I loved this video very much. Thank you :)